Howdy,
New Year’s Eve, quite a time!
Around this house, it’s not only sorting and decluttering, no; to close out 2016 we’ve also been doing a lot of laundry as well. Oh boy!
A lot of laundry might not be quite right; at least, no more than usual here — with three kids, including an infant, it seems we’ve always got a lot of laundry anyway: spit-up cloths, if not clothes spit up on.
But if not a lot more laundry on the caboose month of the 2016, certainly it’s washing more often. Pretty much every night. At least one load.
Why?
The answer: “Dressember.”
Photo: Dressember website
To tell the truth, I’m not too deep into the details of the movement myself. (I’m not the one wearing the dress. I wear pants. Well, when I can’t get away with shorts, or, better, swim-trunks.) But we can research (link to Dressember Foundation) a bit and also ask my wife Sarah who decided to participate in Dressember and had her sister Rebecca and our niece Lizzy join in.
Asking Sarah for more about the reasoning behind Dressember, she said, “To raise awareness and fundraising for girls who have been or are at risk for being trafficked and sold into slavery around the world.”
In this case this is done by women wearing a dress and using online promotion and advocacy. Multiple dresses could be worn while participating, but Sarah said the founder of the idea/movement of the Dressember Foundation (Freedom. Dignity. Creativity.) originally wore the same dress every day for the whole month of December. And that’s what Sarah wanted to do this year.
And she’s done it. Wearing her black dress today.
The same one she’s been wearing all month.
Did you notice?
Yes? Good. You’re aware.
No? That’s okay. Accessories! Hooray for accessories. Scarves and colors and jewelry and sweaters. They’re the extra spice on the same black dress every day. A clean, laundered dress.
Photo: Dressember website
Likewise, Lizzy ran with it. At the beginning of December — “Happy Dressember Eve,” she wrote — Lizzy, 6, sought sponsors for 10 cents a day. With the creative help of her parents, she texted, “In order to raise awareness of human trafficking I, Lizzy, will be wearing a dress or skirt every day in December. I’d love to raise some money to help little girls escape from slavery and rejoin loving families. My friends, the Watts, do just that with an organization called Tiny Hands International. If you’d like to donate 10 cents for each day I wear a dress in Dressember I’d be happy to get your contribution to the Watts.”
And it’s fun, because Lizzy, the young lady, could dress herself and pick some colorful surprises. A cheerful and patterned Dressember. Way to go, Lizzy!
I sponsored Lizzy and supported Sarah (who has chosen to contribute to Hagar International) with helping to keep that laundry moving through, each day, as she’d be wearing the same black dress she wore that day. And accessories.
It has a purpose. Sarah shared that, “It did remind me to pray.” It being, “Putting on the same dress that I wore the day before.”
I love my wife. She’s cute and concerned, and looked great in her same dress, worn for other women and girls.
So, New Year’s Eve, quite a time — for a laundry break: and hopefully so much more, a break away to freedom and real love, as Lizzy said.
I pray your Dressember went well, and Happy New Year’s to All!
—Billy
Reading. Writing. Dressing.
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