I did some major bedroom cleaning/rearranging this weekend to prepare for our Yogabed to arrive this week. My back is still hating me. Hate me as it will… it lead to 3 bags of donations for good will and more……
I was talking to my friend Heather about it all and told her how I also have all these high school dance dresses and bridesmaids dresses that I no longer can wear that I would like to donate but don’t want them ending in a pile of donations never to be seen by someone that could really use them. Or smashed in a garbage bag on my back porch waiting to be picked up and throw in the back of a truck. So many memories and meaning comes from each of them that it sort of broke my heart thinking about it. Hence why they are still in my closet. I told her how I had looked into some of the Prom dress donation websites but I had more then just prom dresses. I had stuff I wore to Homecoming and Turnabout as well. Short dresses that would not qualify and others that might be considered out dated by some of the charities even though the styles I wore were pretty timeless.
That is when Heather came up with an insanely AWESOME idea! She asked if I would be down to donate them to her friend, Emily who is the head of the drama department at a high school. She told me not only could they be used for some of their theatrical performances but also some girls who don’t have a lot come to her friend when they need dance dresses because they can not afford them. She also informed me that Emily does all the fundraising for the drama dept and a lot of times they are in dire need of items. My heart smiled! It was no longer hard to let go of these memorable pieces of clothing. I knew just from hearing this that this is where they belong! As one artist to another I know Emily will reuse these dresses and make someone feel magical all over again. Emily is insanely talented with a heart of gold! 🙂
When Emily saw the photos of the dresses she told Heather “It’s like Christmas!” and when she saw my old pink prom dress (I always referred to as Glinda meets Clueless) she was stoked. She is doing a production of the Wizard of Oz! This made me especially happy because this dress is the hardest for me to part with because it holds a lot of meaning to me. Not only because it was one of my prom dresses from the year I was on prom court, but because I specifically wore pink in memory of my Mom who passed away from breast cancer and always told me she liked me in pink when I was a kid. She might not have been able to be there to help me pick the dress out, do my hair and makeup with me, take photos with me etc. so this was my way of sharing that special moment with her. To know this dress will be used in such a artistic, memorable way just makes me so incredibly happy. It literally brings a tear to my eye. I know Emily can take that dress and turn it into something unbelievable.
Some of the others that are hard to part with are the dresses I wore to dances and prom my senior year when I was dating my husband, Frank. Just knowing those will either make another young girl happy or be used on one of the stars of her plays just makes me that more excited to donate them.
After hearing the drama dept was in need of items I also went through some of my old costumes that I have worn for Halloween and past photo shoots (back in my ole alternative modeling days).
Last night I reminisced about the dances I went to, the weddings I stood up in and the fun Halloween parties and photo shoots I took part in as I boxed them all up. It made me smile to know that someone else will get to share that joy!
Stay Spooky + Support The Arts!
LDG Nicole
