My very first dress (of my own)

[DeeDee]

One night my GF and I were just batting the breeze recalling our childhoods and she asked if one particular incident stood out in my mind. She put my recollections in a word doc as we talked. It was funny how much I remembered and there is no embelleshment of facts here (I save that for my war stories). So, I copy it here (with all its grammar errors), if its ok with forum policies...just thought it might be of interest.

Dee’s First Dress

I was 17 and working at a flower shop on our main when the dry cleaners and adjacent city hall across the street burned down overnight. Since it was a small town, this was a major event. Most everyone came by to look at the remains of the buildings and stopped to stare in the window of the dry cleaners. And so did I. It was daytime when I looked in the window and saw that the front of the store was pretty well gutted, the counter had melted, but the back of the store was in better shape. I could see a rack in the back that held 6 or 8 dresses that looked like they were party dresses. I was surprised that they were still on the rack and not destroyed and I looked at them and then went back to work. I thought about them on my way home and for a few days afterwards as they still hung on the rack.

I had no idea what my size was since I had only worn some of my sister’s clothes and something of my mother’s, and of course I had my choir robe that disappeared later.

It was such an uncontrollable urge to have a dress that I started thinking how I could get a dress off the rack. It was one of the areas of store that was sorta intact too and being 17 kids do stupid things, so I thought if I got caught I could just say I was exploring. So I parked my car in the parking lot behind the supermarket on the corner and got out and looked around. My heart was beating like crazy and I went around the barriers and into the back door that was partially pried open. I knew just where the rack was but had to be careful since anyone could see in from the front window.

I went right to the rack and grabbed one that I thought might fit and rolled it up and tucked it under my arm and went back to my car. I put the dress on the passenger’s seat and was panicked to get out of the parking lot and make a clean get-away.

I only lived about a half mile away and once I had driven a few blocks I reached over and felt it, I couldn’t wait to get home!

After I graduated high school I lived with my Grandmother and parked the car in the driveway since she didn’t have a car and took the dress up to my room as soon as I could. Then I had to try it on. Once in my room with the door closed I looked over the dress to make sure it was in good shape. I sniffed it to see if it smelled like smoke, it didn’t really, which surprised me. I hung it on hanger on a hook near the closet. I sat on the bed and took off my shoes then all my clothes except for my jockey shorts and unzipped the dress from the hanger and slipped it on over my head. When I zipped it up it fit like a dream.

I looked at my self in the mirror at the end of the room and thought Wow! I twirled and held the skirt out and was in Heaven. I wished I could wear it all the time. It was so much nicer than the other clothes I had worn and it was mine. I didn’t have to put it back, it was mine.

I wore it for at least a half hour, I remember since I hadn’t eaten yet. I sat on the edge of the bed and let the weight of the dress settle around me. I don’t know what material it was made from, but it was very heavy. It had little capped sleeves and a rounded neckline that was slightly lower in the back. It had a bow at the waist and zippered up the back. It was golden beige and shiny so I think it may have been satin. I didn’t have any accessories since I wasn’t licing at my parent’s house any longer. I may have had a pair of panties that I swiped from the laundry basket back at home but nothing more.

When I took off the dress I hung it up and changed. I looked at it for a long time while I decided where to stash it. I ended up folding it up and putting it in one of my dresser drawers. I was happy.

When I came home I’d put the dress on and relax in my room. I didn’t have a TV in my room so I often listened to the radio or read with it on. There was a bathroom upstairs and after a while I got brave and wore it in the hall to the bathroom. When I wore it to the bathroom I sat, as any lady would, and of course, I wiped.

I began to have weird thoughts about having a slip and shoes to go with the dress and wondered how I could go about getting them.

I looked forward to coming home and putting it on. A few times someone would come over and I had to rush to take it off. But I was pretty good with the back zippers.

I don’t recall how long it went on that I had the dress but then one day I went over to the folk’s house and everyone was there for dinner, my father and mother and three other siblings. My mother was a terrible cook but she did a wicked meatloaf and macaroni & cheese. We were all in the dining room when my father came out with my dress. He held it up and he was really mad and he asked “What the hell is this?” and I was really scared. Apparently he had been in my dresser, which wasn’t cool so I was like Yikes. And I came up with some flimsy excuse that it belonged to a girl I was going out with at the time and I had gotten something on it and had it so I could clean it. And my Dad ranted and raved about having dresses in my room…… then he ripped it apart.

He held it at odds to the zipper and pulled it apart and I thought, Oh manure. He was steaming and I can’t really remember anyone else’s reaction and I stormed out of there and got in my car…don’t remember if I drove around or went straight back to my room. I just thought Oh Crap I don’t have a dress anymore and I was kinda sad about that. And Dad just did a big blow up thing in front of the family and I wondered if it was the end of the world. But nothing was ever mentioned about it again.

And when I let Dad move in with me in 1990 and told Dad about Dee, I asked him about that incident and he said he didn’t remember it at all.

My mother had caught me when I was about 12 years old when I was wearing my sister’s communion dress, petticoats and all, and she just unbuttoned me and said not to do it again. She wasn’t mean or scolding but just told me not to wear my sister’s clothes. After that my sister’s clothes that were hanging up in the basement disappeared. My sister was 4 years younger but we wore the same size. It was kinda handy having her around except that she was a tomboy.

Once my mother had me try on a robe for a girl cousin of mine but that wasn’t a big thing. Later when she was going for chemo they stopped by and we were in the living room talking when my dog came in carrying one of my pumps. When she dropped it, my Mom kicked it under the coffee table so my Dad wouldn’t see it. That was kinda cool.

Outside of that incident I can’t say that I had any big bad things happen to me or that my Mom dressed me as a girl, it was just me doing my thing.

And of course right after that I was drafted.

Hugs
DeeDee

[DonnaT]

Geez Dee, 4 years here and now you tell us?

[DeeDee]

Donna...oh sure, I keep secrets Actually talking to someone else just kinds of lets the memories flow...and true memories aren't lies. Its like therapy witout paying big bucks. People can't seem to remember their lies, but true incidents kinda never change their gist (details become fuzzy maybe). Now for a war story..there I was on a gun run..rockets jammed and..............
Hugs
DeeDee

[Anita]

Hi DeeDee--
It's neat how you liberated a dress that had already been written off by the insurance company, I'm sure. It's terrible what your Dad did, even if he didn't believe your story. You're not the first person who asked a parent about the time they got "caught," and the parent doesn't even remember it, though.

[Marjory]

Another thing about this forum, it helps you remember incidents that happened that you had completely forgotten about. Mostly from the time before you really knew you were a CDer.