Selling My Dreams

Dandelion Dreams an Original painting by D Ross

I’ve recently put my wedding dress for sale on Vinted. The dress from my first marriage, that is, long ago dissolved.  I’m not sure why I kept it. It’s raw pink silk, made to measure by a seamstress friend, to my own design. There’s no way I’m fitting into that size 8 number now, that’s for sure. So, why did I keep it? Sentimentality, romanticism? I’m not really sure.  I believed in ‘forever’ and ‘until death parts us’ and didn’t think I’d ever be part of UK divorce statistics. I mean, no one plans to be, do they? I wasn’t entirely naive when I first got married, but I was still very young and thought we’d manage the course.  I walked away 20 years in, for reasons I won’t go into here, feeling lost and failed and utterly ashamed. Yet I still kept my wedding dress. A talisman of hope perhaps, or a reminder of how things can go wrong perhaps.

I’ve been re-married for 7 years this June and lived with my now husband before that.  It’s not been smooth sailing by any means, but we’re pretty solid, despite the ups and downs.  My husband encouraged me to keep my first wedding photos. They’re in an album in the loft, where they’ll stay until I digitise them - or not.  The wedding dress has done its time in the wardrobe and I’m ready to let it go.  My ‘forever’ dream didn’t come true, but I have the now and I’m  very grateful I got a second chance at love and life.

The dress from wedding number 2 is still in the wardrobe and it still fits. It will make a nice summer dress, if I ever get around to dyeing it. In the meantime, there’s a vintage (nearly 40 year old) raw silk dress for sale if anyone’s interested….