The Wedding Gown

He told us he wanted to ask and I knew she would say “yes!”

I wanted her to have the most beautiful wedding gown but how would that be possible? Brazil, where we had lived for most of the last twenty years, had rentals available. Fancy! Gorgeous! You could use any superlative to describe what was available at a reasonable cost.

But I was now unfamiliar with wedding fineries in the USA. How could I buy something that would make her dreams come true?

A couple of weeks later, on a trip out of state, I sat in the car waiting for my husband who was browsing a car-parts shop. The little strip mall on the side suddenly caught my attention. There, on display in the window of an upscale thrift shop, was a beautiful wedding gown. Could it be that I was meant to see it? I had to take a closer look so, locking the car, I headed across the parking lot.

“Yes,” the saleslady would take it down so I could photograph it from every angle. It was even more beautiful up close! But I could not pick out a wedding gown for my daughter! To be honest, we rarely had the same taste in clothes – let alone a wedding gown!

But you know what? I didn’t pick out that dress and neither did she! That dress was just meant to be! You guessed it! She loved the pictures!  The gown arrived in the mail a few days later! And she looked every bit as beautiful as I always knew she would!