Everything about her is crisp. There’s me, the crisp white uniform, and her crisp white cap (both heavily starched). Crisp instructions, with crisp sharp consonants. Crisp movements, nothing wasted. A crisp nod to the doctor on his rounds. If you hugged her, she’d crackle like a piece of cellophane wrapping. At least, that’s what I always thought. But then that boy, just back from Korea, grabbed her hand and squeezed it. Grabbed it with his only hand, the one missing three fingers. She finished changing his dressings (gently, not crisply at all) and ran to the closet, where she cried.
A Dress A Day 
I love this. I’ve been enjoying your blog for awhile now (even though I don’t sew much yet), and this drabble series is brilliant, but this one is my favourite. It’s so real and so human. Thanks so much for brightening our days with dresses!
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What a sweet drabble!
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Oh, jeepers, I just teared up myself.
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Oh wow, that was a great piece of writing. So brief but so powerful!
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I have a big lump in my throat!
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Gulp. Erin, you did it again, girlfriend..
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Ohhhhh, now you’ve made me cry too. K Q:-0
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You make it all so possible, so human. I look at that dress and I can see the story unfold…Thank you.
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Perfect.
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That just ROCKS. My 84yo grandmother is recovering from her 2nd total shoulder replacement and I print your new posts for her every day. She loves it and several times has reminisced that she had a similar dress. It is wonderful to hear her memory jogged…she has a lot of fashion sense. She was Miss Michigan Peach Queen 1939 (forerunner to Miss America contest). I have the locket and dress she wore in her official portrait. Thanks for giving her something so cool to look forward to!!! Katherine
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So…when are you going to put these in a book? I want it.
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Awwwww!!! Great dress drable today. Bit sad tho.
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It reminds me of the piece of writing that Hemingway said was the best he had ever written. It’s only six words: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
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I’ve really enjoyed these drabbles! This one was especially touching.
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Beautiful, poignant, human: you make the dresses seem more real than some of the people I work with every day.
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Are you trying to make us cry too?
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omigod, i didn’t even bother to run to the closet!
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omigod, i didn’t even bother to run to the closet!
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Oh, I love these drabbles – and this one made me cry as well. You are so talented.
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