When I was around 12, we took the long Greyhound bus ride to spend the holidays in California with my cousins. I was in that in-between age of being too young to hang with the adults and too much older than the kids. It was an awkward time of my life but I always looked forward to spending time with my California cousins.

Not long after arriving, my older cousin asked me what I was wearing for Christmas the next day. I told her that I’d brought my maroon corduroy jeans and a shirt and wandered off to play with my younger cousins.

The next morning as I woke up, she spread a beautiful dress on top of me. It was red velvet topped and had a full white laced, floor length skirt. It was hand-made through the night while I slept so that I’d have it in the morning. Apparently, they measured and held dress segments up to my sleeping body to ensure that it fit perfectly. It did and I felt like a princess.

If I didn’t say it then, I want to thank my cousin for making this skinny, buck-toothed girl feel special. Your kind act has never been forgotten.