The anchor dress story

The dress was white. It had a nautical pattern. There were blue anchors and gold-colored boat steering wheels. There was also the color red on the dress. I was only four or five. Blond hair, freckle faced, tan legs and knock knees. I was such a tom boy, as far back as I can remember. I’m not sure how or why I was even wearing a dress. Tom boys didn’t wear dresses. For some reason, I liked that dress.

I was playing with my cousins. If you’ve ever seen the movie with Kevin Costner, called The War, we were probably like the Lipnicki family, always looking for an adventure. Translation, always getting into trouble. It’s a great movie by the way. One of my favorites.

Some parts of this story I don’t clearly remember, but at the same time other parts are crystal clear. It is so strange how our brains let us remember and how our recall of certain events happens. The dress, for some reason, is pretty clear.

We lived in a super small town. The town was Hurley, SD. It is near Sioux Falls, the biggest city in South Dakota. The population of Hurley, today is 415. See. Super small. Not much going on there. There was Main Street and a park and a school. We lived in a little house that was white with brown trim. Like the Euclid house, this house also had a fire. That’s a story for another time. In all fairness, I have never tortured animals.  🙂

There was a big tree that had a fort in it. I wanted so bad to climb that tree and get in that fort. We walked there from someone’s house. It must have been from our house. It seemed like the tree was far away. Our driveway was laced in rock and everything else seemed like it was dirt. I don’t think there were actual sidewalks. It sure didn’t seem like it. There were brown and gold leaves with curled edges on the ground too. It must have been fall. We got to the tree. It was a tall tree and it seemed like it was way up to the sky. It was so exciting.

My cousins went up and I talked them into letting me go up too. The ladder steps to get up consisted of a little piece of wood with a nail in the center attached to the tree. I remember getting up there and feeling like I was on top of the world. It was amazing. I could see everything. It was so cool. I felt as free as a four or five year old could feel. Heights were never a problem at that age.

Pretty soon that rush was gone. Pretty soon I looked around and nobody was there. Pretty soon I was scared. They left me. I had no idea where they went. I was stuck up there. I was stuck in the tree fort. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to get down or if anyone was coming back for me.

I sat down and cried. I was yelling and yelling, but nobody came. It was getting cold and by this time I had to go to the bathroom. I had no idea what I was going to do. I had no idea how I was going to get down. I didn’t know what to do. Nobody was coming to help me. Nobody was coming to get me down. I was so scared. I peed my pants in my pretty dress with the anchors. I felt terrible.

The symbolism of the anchor may be why I remember this story. In tumultuous times the anchor is a sign of stability and strength. It is a symbol of security and being grounded. I remember looking at the anchors on that dress. I think the anchors helped me that day. I think the anchors gave me strength. I think the anchors helped me have the self confidence and courage to climb down from that tree fort. I can barely remember climbing down. I must have run home after that. I just remember being so scared, but more than that, I was so upset about peeing my pants in my pretty anchor dress.