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The Photo Sleuth
26 February 2024
There are moments of desperation going through someone else's treasures. "What could this possibly be?" you wonder, a bit embarrassed that something saved for so long by someone you knew so well could be a mystery.
Mysterious Garb. A blue waistband with a bow in the back and a flowered wreath.
That happened to us when we unearthed a white box from Mom's hope chest and peeked inside. There was a wide blue ribbon waistband tied in a bow with a small flowered tiara.
We didn't know why Mom had saved them.
The first thing that came to mind was to ask someone.
So we sent an email to Mom's last living childhood friend to ask if she recognized it. Maybe from a school play, we hoped.
Nope, no idea, she apologized.
We spent a few days trying to see if we might remember something. Occasionally a memory takes its sweet time floating to the surface. But that didn't work either.
We took a closer look at it, hoping for a clue. On the inside it had Mom's name and her married initial.
Married? So she didn't wear it in a school play.
What do married women get costumed for, we wondered. Well, weddings. As bridesmaids.
That gave us the bright idea to see if there wasn't a photo of the mysterious things among all the old black-and-white photo albums she kept in the closet.
Bingo.
We didn't find a photo of Mom wearing it, but we found a few other women in the same thing. And we found Mom's mother helping them put them on.
Evidence. Gram helping the bridesmaids (l) and one of them posing.
Mystery solved! It was what the bridesmaids wore at her brother's wedding.