When I was about six or seven, I posed for the photo above with my cousins. I wore a Minnie Mouse dress which I think I was very fond of at the time, but soon lost track of.

When my daughter Elizabeth was born, my mother wanted to find that dress to give to her. She mentioned it often, and looked in closet after closet after closet. She was sure it was saved somewhere. But she never could find it.

When my mom died, my aunt went through her house of things and packed up a couple of boxes for me to keep. I did not look inside them at the time. My mother’s cancer and slow decline, which still happened all too fast, had exhausted me, and I took the boxes home, placed them in storage, and intended to go through them later, when it was easier.

When I moved last month, I had to move the boxes. I finally went through what was in them. In one was the framed picture of me and my cousins, where I wore the Minnie Mouse dress. Folded underneath it was the dress.

Which is exactly the same size my daughter wears right now.

I don’t know if my mother ever found the dress before she died. I don’t think she did. I think my aunt turned it up afterwards. I don’t think my mother ever knew Elizabeth would get the dress. But she did. And it’s perfect.