Yellow Formal Gown

You know how YouTube puts suggestions of videos to watch that are similar to what you have been viewing?  One of the videos that popped up was Lynn Anderson's "Rose Garden".  I love that song and hadn't heard it in a while so I clicked on it. In doing so, it immediately triggered a memory from 30+ years ago when I was in high school.

In the video Lynn is wearing a long yellow dress with long sleeves.  I wore a very similar looking dress in a choral concert in high school.  I don't remember all the details but I do remember that we were all supposed to wear formal gowns in this concert.  Well, I didn't have a formal gown.  And we really didn't have money to go buy one just for a mandatory chorus concert that I had to attend as part of my class.  So, luckily, Grandma Sabin had a vintage yellow polyester formal gown from the 60s or early 70s.  It fit and I was able to borrow it for the concert.

I've never been one to care much about what others think or tried to fit in.  This was no exception. Looking back, I am sure I stood out like a sore thumb amongst all of the 80s fashions.  I think I was pretty indifferent to the dress at the time but looking back, I really like the dress. If I remember correctly, the dress was a yellow, polyester, floorlength gown with long sleeves and a high neckline with ruffles on the neck and sleeves.  It was a cool dress.  Wish I had pictures.

One thing stands out to me more than anything else about that concert.  After the concert, a man approached me (probably the father of one of the other students).  He thanked me for dressing modestly and told me how beautiful I looked in the dress.  That compliment had such an impact on me that I still remember it to this day.  30+ years later.

The reason the compliment had such an impact on me was not because I was told I looked beautiful.  Heaven knows I've been told that countless times.  :-)  It was that he thanked me for dressing modestly.

The best and most memorable compliments I've ever received are those where I'm complimented on living the Gospel and following the commandments.  Dressing modestly, looking wholesome, etc.

Why did this gentleman take the time to find me after the concert and compliment me? I'm sure most of the other gowns worn that night were not modest.  Certainly not as modest as mine.  It was nice of this gentleman to positively reinforce my choice to dress modestly.

Not realizing at the time how much I would stand out in a yellow 1960s ball gown in a sea of 1980s formal gowns, I certainly wasn't thinking about other people noticing the modesty of my gown -- or even noticing me all -- in a big choir.  But recalling this incident reminds me that people are always watching us and what we do, even when we don't think they are.  So we always need to live our best life in accordance with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That we may stand as a witness of God at all times, in all things, and in all places.

So thank you, Lynn Anderson, for triggering this memory.  Here is the video I watched with Lynn Anderson in her long yellow gown.  This is very similar to what I would have looked like in my concert.  :-)  Incidentally the song, "Rose Garden", was born the same year I was.  :-)

That's my two cents.