Near the Oranje Hotel prison in Scheveningen,  there was a lovely park. It was called Klein Zwitserland. The grass was green and soft. No fire ants, like where I live now. I used to walk there and lie down, looking up at the trees and imagining that I was lying on top of that green canopy. the sky was pure blue as only the sky can be. The little white clouds were pretty, most in the shape of sheep.

I used to think that I would like my wedding dress to be that beautiful blue. But wedding dresses are supposed to be white. That did not suit me well, because those white clouds often had gray in them. Living in the Netherlands, I knew full well the variety of gray clouds that could be loaded with rain. Raindrops like tears.

Later I would learn the truth of it. The joining of two people is not just sunshine. But at the time, it would not do. I knew my marriage would be happy sunshine, always.

I now had a dilemma on my hands about the color of my wedding dress. Still, the blue was so beautiful, so I decided that I would wear a blue dress on my engagement. The exact blue of the sky.

When the time came, I found a dress that was just right. The only thing we that the fabric was sheer. So I bought a blue satin fabric and sewed an underslip to go with the dress.

When we gave a party to celebrate our engagement, I wore that dress. I was as happy as the dress was blue.

More about this will be in Unforgivable, which will be published in 2024.