The Wedding Dress
- Stan must have subconsciously absorbed May's request that he mow the lawn, because that's exactly what he's doing, even though Lily thinks he's too old for yard work.
- When Stan goes to the shed to get his mower, he finds a large trunk inside a wardrobe and it distracts him. It belonged to his mother, and then his older sister, Emmy, who died young. Inside is his mother's wedding dress.
- Stan has a very vivid memory from age ten involving this dress. When Emmy got engaged, his mother brought it down to show her, and both of them insulted it, calling it a "nightie."
- Now Stan suddenly is overwhelmed with guilt for saying this, realizing how much the comment must have hurt her.
- Later on, he shows the dress to May, who immediately begins to imagine fanciful images of a wedding in the family where a young lady could wear it.
- This presents a lot of problems, though. Marigold is dead set on never getting married again, Lily is too short and stocky for it, and who knows if Lonnie will ever choose a major, let alone find a wife.
- Still, she brings this up to Stan, saying that they should set the dress aside for Lonnie's future bride. Stan scoffs at this. Frustrated with him, May takes the dress upstairs and shows it to Sef.