During one of the first days I arrived in Colorado to tend to my father, my sister and I went to return something at Anthropologie. My sister and I love to shop together and I ended up getting a beautiful turquoise printed dress. Shopping therapy! We declared. It was long and boho style, with short fluttery sleeves and a deep neckline. I loved it so much that I wore it nearly every day as we cared for my dad.

I wore it as I sat with my mom on the couch and contemplated if we should keep the lease on their apartment. I wore it while we fed my dad a tiny bowl of strawberry ice cream – his last proper meal. I wrote it while my sister and I cried and hugged and whispered, “I’ve got you…” in each others’ ears.

When my dad was still speaking, he would look up at me every once in a while and say, “That’s the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen. It’s sensational.” And so I kept wearing it, feeling like, in some small way, I was honoring this big event with beauty and color.

I’m not sure why exactly I am telling you about the dress. Maybe because it will always remind me of that sacred time. Maybe because it says something about my dad and how he saw me – the most beautiful dress. (And this is a man who owned clothing stores throughout my childhood! He knew beautiful dresses. 😉

But as I share this with you, I can see what I’m getting at.

It was the way he was able to see the best in my sister, my mom and me. He had stars in his eyes for us since the very beginning.

What a gift to be seen this way.

May we all have someone in our lives that sees us this way.