a special night

A few years ago I was going through my cedar chest (which was my grandma's and eventually handed down to me) and found a tiny baby dress. It was clear this was a very old handmade dress with little needle point flowers and crocheted edging on the bottom. After a little research I found out it was my mother's dress when she was a baby, made by my great-grandmother about 70 years ago.

Wanting to preserve it, I talked to my friend, Emily, and asked her if she thought this was something she could shadow box. Within a couple of months she had a friend of hers fix some tears in the dress and had it dry cleaned so it was now smooth and wrinkle free. We spent some time picking out the wood to frame it in and the matting for the background. There was some really cool wood, but I figured Aaron would kill me if I spent $500 on framing one dress. So Emily did a lot of searching and found the perfect wood for this dress. I was pretty excited about preserving this family heirloom and being able to put it in Reagan's room.

A week after we made all the final decisions for the shadow box Aaron lost his job. I called Emily to let her know I'd have to put off the framing until Aaron found something else. I just couldn't justify the cost when we were trying to figure out how many months we could survive without work. I was really worried she had already spent the money to get the supplies and I wouldn't be able to pay her for them. When I told her what was going on the first words were that this is the last thing I should be worrying about and for me to not give it a second thought. She then spent the rest of the call comforting me and making sure I was ok and wanting to know what she could do to help.

It is now two weeks later and a few hours ago Emily showed up. She had finished the dress and wanted me to have it, regardless of the fact that I have no way to pay her. She said it meant a lot to her that I have it up on my wall where I could see it any time I wanted. Words can't express what this has meant to me.

Emily does framing out of her home and has three young girls, for her to take time out of her already busy schedule and time from her framing jobs that pay, to complete a job for me, is pretty exceptional. It was a beautiful gift and one that I now treasure all the more.

 

If there's one thing I have learned in the last couple of weeks is that when things go bad... I mean really bad... people come out of the woodwork to help and support in any way they can. We've had so many calls from friends and family telling us to hang in there and how much they love us. So many people have called and e-mailed Aaron with ideas of where he could find work and who's currently hiring. Friends have called to have Noah over just to give us a break. They say it's so Noah can play, but I know it's more for me than him. While it's been unbelievably scary to not have a job and not know how long you can survive without one, it's been amazing to see how friends and family step in when you need them the most. I can't thank you all enough for the love and support that has been shown us these past few weeks.

I love you all.