Last night I laid in bed...insomnia in full swing....I thought about the bed roll/nap mat my mother is making for Ellie to use at Day Care.  I envisioned her with the material spread out on the floor of the family room.  Marking it out and cutting...pinning. 

Suddenly the thought of those little bitty pins flashed me back to the early eighties!

I was just a little person dragged to work with my mom.  She took me every time she went.  My mom was a bridal seamstress...and a good one.  She went to every fitting with small me in tow.  But I had a purpose at the shop...for a few years it was my calling.  I was the Pin Collector.  My job (or at least a way to keep me busy and out from under foot) was to crawl around the shop, especially the dressing rooms, and collect all the stray pins that had fallen from garments.

I did this until I was 8 or 9 years old and mom finally stopped working for Sonia.

I can barely remember the first shop.  It was in an old house off of James Street and I remember the small rooms for what was on display and the large banister that led upstairs.  That one is a vague image, but the one down by the Burger King in Rome I can still picture very vividly.  What I see the most when I close my eyes is the small rack of Jr Bridesmaid dresses.  Oh how I wished I could wear one of them.  I dreamed of some place special to where them.  Like a ball or a cotillion.  That I think, should explain that monstrosity that was my Jr. Prom gown....so much pink lame, lace and crinoline...ug....in my defense it was 1991 and the 80's weren't quite over yet in Westmoreland.  But it did resemble the dresses I dreamed about when I was only six years old.

There was one time that I did get to finally wear one of the beautiful creations my mother had sewn from scratch.  She had a Jr. Bride for a wedding and she was exactly my size.  So of course I was her mannequin.  Any son or daughter of a seamstress knows the fitting drill.  You stand on a box or something to elevate you.  Your feet are flat, knees locked, shoulders back and chin up...otherwise the hem might be uneven....the hem line must fall perfectly you know and changes every time you rest a hip or drop your shoulders to see what Mom is doing.  One other thing we know how to do perfectly, is how to perfectly execute the disrobing from those prickly situations without getting "Stuck." God I can still feel that raw, crusty, unlined fabric against my arms and legs....ick.  Anyway, she worked hard on this beautiful white dress for the Jr. Bride.  It made me think of Princess Di's wedding and how I was certain some lucky girl got to wear one just like it.  It fit me beautifully.  Then the day of my first Holy Communion my mom gave the dress to me.  It was for me!!  It was beautiful and my favorite dress ever....also the only dress I ever wore as a child...being a Tim Boy and all.

Pins and Needles....I grew up on them...in them, yet I have no fear of being struck by them in today...

                Hey look!  No childhood scar for a change!