Evelyn Kain
Not-so-Treasured Memories: A Baptismal Dress
My father and I were not close, so I really had to wrestle with my emotions surrounding this ritual garment. I envy people who were close to their fathers. It seems simpler (even if it isn’t). The few “stories” I summarize in the text above are vaguely understood half-truths, somehow passed down years ago, but they’re the truth about how I feel today. The text might read as wooden, heartless, and more on the rueful side but unfortunately that’s my recollection. My father was never mean, only indifferent in a way that reads as rejection to a child. I am the youngest of three siblings, and the one who traveled the world, while they stayed put, so how I came into possession of this dress is a mystery. My family has never been sentimental, and did not talk much, so I have no idea. Remarkable is also how the dress stayed in good condition after a century of being balled up in a plastic bag. I’m not happy with what I wrote, but I can always change it. In fact, I might start revising right now.
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