Endures All Things

The dress was tucked away in a box among picture albums and quilts in a closet.  It had made the journey in a U-Haul from South Dakota to Houston three years before.  It had been packed onto the truck along with other evidences of young love.  There was a (locked) trunk filled with letters exchanged between my parents as teens.  Other boxes contained photos of their time together at summer camp or headed to the movies in Dad's car. There were yearbooks from the time of their first date, when Mom was just 15.  Dad enjoys telling the story of inviting her to a neighboring town for rollerskating...since he needed to go to the town anyway in order to pick up a tractor part for his father.  When Mom talks about that first date, she remembers being torn between wanting to skate, and wishing to sit beside Dad on the sidelines since he lacked skating skills.
When I visited my parents a few weeks ago, Mom lifted the dress from the box while Dad was in another room.  She was pleased to see that it hadn't yellowed, and stroked the lacy sleeves.  She reminded me that her mother had spent countless hours lovingly sewing this dress.  Mom wanted to see if she could fit into it, so slipped to her bedroom to try it on while I distracted Dad.  He was delighted when she emerged to surprise him.  We quickly decided that he should find a suit jacket so we could take pictures.  He disappeared, and returned not only with a jacket, but a shirt and tie as well. When he reached for her hand in an attempt to recreate a ring exchange, I witnessed one of the most touching moments I've seen.  The pictures don't show that Mom's dress didn't quite zip up the back.  You can't see that Dad was still wearing his gym shorts from the waist down.  The pictures simply tell of a love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.