Sea Foam Green with Polka Dots

Three years ago. Three, long, years ago. I wandered through Target looking for random gift ideas to fill our gift closet.

*Important Side Note: If you do not have a gift closet, I highly suggest you get started on one. Every time I visit a store, I take a look in the various clearance sections, to find things that could be given as gifts in the future. This is a huge money saver and is perfect for last minute birthday invites or those "oops, I totally forgot that is tomorrow!" moments. Also, if you find that something you purchased isn't being used, you can donate it to a shelter or a fundraiser. 

Anyway, back to the story....

Three years ago, I was looking in the children's clothing section. I filled my cart with clothes of all sizes, for boys and girls, and for any season. At the time, many of our friends were still adding to their families and/or had little ones, so I knew that I could find an immediate use for most of them.

When I got home, I began unpacking my finds and organizing them into the sections of my gift closet. One particular outfit stuck out to me. The most adorable sea foam green top with white polka dots, with matching jean shorts with the same green swirling around the legs. I thought to myself, "If I had a daughter, this is what I would want to dress her in". Knowing that we had decided not to have more babies, I packed the outfit away with the rest of our future gifts. 

Over and over again, I would go into this closet, looking for the perfect gift for the baby shower, birthday party, retirement gift, etc. etc. Each time, taking an extra look at that adorable outfit. Each time it would be an appropriate gift, I would consider giving it away- sometimes even putting it in the bag, but I would always change my mind and pull it back out. I couldn't, and still can't, explain my reasoning. It just felt right to keep it.

Each time I was reminded of the outfit, I was reminded of the daughter I felt was missing. Each time, it would rekindle the thoughts that led me to believe our family was not complete.

Fast forward three years. Yesterday, my sweet Maylee- the reason for my hesitation, the reason why our family was not yet complete, wore that very outfit.

It was not deliberate. I have not spent the last three years eagerly awaiting the chance to clothe our daughter in this outfit. In fact, it was buried in one of her dresser drawers. I happened upon it, when digging for one more pair of 18 month shorts.

It wasn't until yesterday evening, scrolling through the pictures of she and I splashing in a fountain, that it hit me how long that outfit had been waiting for our little girl. I can not describe how powerful that realization was.