MY EX-WIFE´S
WEDDING DRESS

I’d like to share a very nice comment that I received on my blog a couple days ago. In the early going when my site started to generate some traffic there were comments made by people explaining that they didn’t know what to do with their wedding dresses. Some were from people who were divorced and others who were happily married but the message was clear – a lot of dresses are boxed up or hanging somewhere doing nothing. My brother Colin who takes the bulk of the pictures for the blog and helped come up with a lot of the ideas went to work trying to find some charities that are looking for used wedding dresses. He contacted a number of them and from those we selected a few to post links for on the blog. Those can be found under the DONATE A DRESS tab at the top of the main page. I have received messages from a few people now saying that they have donated a dress to one of these charities which I think is pretty cool. I received this message earlier this week from Jenn and would like to share it: “Kevin, I just wanted you to know that your blog has been a source of positive inspiration for me. After limping along for a while, my 14 year marriage finally ended in divorce just this May. Like your ex, I left my wedding dress behind when I moved out- not because I wanted to make a statement or because of any painful symbolism it may have but because it was in a little-used closet that I missed entirely in my sweep. I simply forgot it. Ever since I started reading your blog, I have been thinking about that dress. I thought I might like to do something constructive with it like donate it to one of the charities you have linked to your blog but I wasn’t sure quite how to approach the forgotten dress issue with my ex. I didn’t want to give him the impression that I was dwelling on the dress or the marriage or that I was planning nefarious acts with the thing. I was dreading the awkwardness of the whole situation because conversations are always tense even when we’re talking about simple co-parenting logistics. You however inspired me to “man up” and I did in fact get the dress this weekend. It is all packed up and will be shipping tomorrow to the Mary Madeline Project. Not that your personal growth process as documented here needs legitimizing of any sort but now none may say that your blog is not a force for good in the world. Because of you, at least one woman has done something positive for others and taken another step in her own journey.” I have received suggestions from a number of women suggesting things my ex-wife’s wedding dress can be used for in the kitchen.  I guess when I used it clean dishes and take hot stuff from the oven I was only scratching the surface – who knew?  I was inspired by a family friend, Leah Davis, to attempt to strain some juice with it – not your everyday juice but juice from the prickly pear cactus that grows wild all over our desert.  I was able to find a clean section of the dress, strain some juice, and put together a relatively tasty margarita.  Thanks Leah.