100 Dresses

Earlier this week I attended an evening celebration of the Birthday of The Relief Society,  the women's organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The theme of the event was 100 Dresses, based on the book The Hundred Dresses, by Eleanor Estes.  We were all asked to bring  dresses for women and girls  that were then donated to several different local shelters. 

The event started off with a wonderful dinner of Hawaiian Haystacks, rolls, and birthday cake, followed by a review of the book.  I haven't had a chance to read the book yet, but have requested it from the library, so hope to read it soon.  Here is the book description from Amazon.com:

Eleanor Estes’s The Hundred Dresses won a Newbery Honor in 1945 and has never been out of print since. At the heart of the story is Wanda Petronski, a Polish girl in a Connecticut school who is ridiculed by her classmates for wearing the same faded blue dress every day. Wanda claims she has one hundred dresses at home, but everyone knows she doesn’t and bullies her mercilessly. The class feels terrible when Wanda is pulled out of the school, but by that time it’s too late for apologies. Maddie, one of Wanda’s classmates, ultimately decides that she is “never going to stand by and say nothing again.” This powerful, timeless story has been reissued in paperback with a new letter from the author’s daughter Helena Estes, and with the Caldecott artist Louis Slobodkin’s original artwork in beautifully restored color.

After the review, several other women each spoke about a dress that represented a very special day in their lives.  One sister spoke about the baby blessing dress that she had recently sewn for her baby daughter.  Another spoke a bit about her baptism and the dress that she wore on that day many years ago.  She also brought the dress that she uses as a temple worker, and explained that it was similar in style and appearance to a dress that she wore when she was dating her husband shortly after her baptism, and that he recognized the similarity and has told her about the feelings he had at that time when he knew that she was to be his wife. Another sister displayed and told about her wedding dress, and another about the dress that she wore when she was recently sealed to her husband.  I know that I can't do justice to the wonderful stories that were shared, but it was a nice evening to share with friends and to ponder events that are special and important in our lives.  Do you have story about a particular dress of yours?