I have always loved May. When I was a young girl, May was a time of enchantment and expectation. Spring is here. Beauty is blooming everywhere. May is full of beautiful occasions, the Kentucky Derby, Mother’s Day, and Prom!
All these occasions I cited above create wonderful memories of my mother, Wilma. She was a true beauty with great personal style. She loved to dress up for the “occasion”. She wore a hat like no one I knew! We never went to Kentucky for the Derby but my father created our own along with fancy hats (from Easter) to betting on the horses by drawing a name out of a hat and Mint Juleps! Virgin, of course.
After the long winter and April showers came beautiful budding spring flowers. At the school I went to, there was a May Day pageant honoring “The Blessed Mother Mary”. I couldn’t wait for the roses to bloom in my mother’s beautiful garden. I would wear them in my hair along with a special dress that my mother would sew. She was a very talented lady with the double S’s, Simplicity patterns and her Singer sewing machine!
Last Friday and Saturday nights, I attended Austin Fashion Week events. It brought back so many memories of all the designs my mother and I created together. She was a wiz at altering patterns. We would pore over the pattern books. We evolved from Simplicity to Butterick then to Vogue patterns! We would take a bodice from one, the skirt from another. Special buttons found in antique stores; the bolts of fabrics with their textures and designs were always an adventure we took together designing for all the proms and the “Ultimate Dress” the Wedding Dress!
I went to college for fashion merchandising. If I had known what I know now, Wilma and I could have started a design company. She would have been game!
After school I worked at Bloomies, NYC, in the buying office of cosmetics. Bye bye design company and hello “Beauty”.
As Mother’s Day approaches I think about my mother, Wilma, and all that she was. She was beautiful inside and out. She loved her husband and all her children. There were four of us. I realize in listening to my sister and my brothers that she had a special place for all of us. Now that is true beauty.
Happy Mother’s Day to all, Happy Spring! Happy Expectations! Summer is coming!
My love to all, be blessed!
Megan