The Magic Dress

I still remember Chelsea and Flannery’s reaction when I came out of the Bluebird & Co. dressing room in the silky pink and green floral number with cutouts. It was already something of a folk legend in the Bluebird community – The Magic Dress.

It was one of my first visits to the new brick-and-mortar store, and Chelsea and Flannery were among the very few people in Crozet who knew my name. I was still new to the area, and my job was remote, so I didn’t really know anybody. It was so fun for them to “Ooo” and “Ahh” over the dress – is anything better than the instant bond of trust women form outside of a dressing room? And then to be included on the little secret – this dress was a magic dress, they told me. It somehow looked fantastic and flattered all the women who tried it on, regardless of age, size, complexion, or build – like magic. It was our very own “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” situation. Obviously, I took the dress home.

Places I’ve worn the magic dress: My extended family’s annual reunion beach trip, my wedding anniversary dinner, birthdays, a trip to St. Maartin with my best friend from high school. I wear the magic dress when something important is happening, or when I want something interesting to happen, or when I’m particularly happy and want to celebrate, or when I’m especially sad and need something to remind me that there is fun and magic in this world.

One of those occasions stands out to me. I have a blurry photo of me in the dress in St. Maartin, where a dear friend and I took off to in a fit of frustration and celebration. The photo is at a seafood restaurant where we went out to eat one night, and she snapped this image of me laughing and holding my hair up off my neck in the heat and humidity of the island. We went on the trip because we missed each other, and because we were tired with grief. We were both going through it in our lives, and so much was out of our control, but we could at least be out of control together. So that’s what we did.

I look at the woman in the photo, and she is laughing, and having fun, and feeling loved and feeling pretty. Maybe it’s vanity to want or need that, but I did. And it helped.

I wonder if I am who Chelsea had in mind when she picked out the magic dress, or if she had any idea how much her care for a stranger in this way might mean. Or what Flannery saw the first time I encountered her and Bluebird, at her pop-up in Mudhouse when she handed me “Fault Lines” (great book, by the way). Of course, they didn’t have me in mind – they didn’t know me. I was a total stranger. But the actual magic is, they were thinking of me. And I really believe they’re thinking of you, too. 

- Molly