When I was seven years old my Mom made me a pink skirt that I loved, but she had to change the design when I stained it.

My pink skirt was corduroy, brand new for me, and nobody else had one like it.  The most exciting thing was that it was straighter than my other skirts.  A straight skirt was more like an older girl’s skirt.  More like my older sisters.  Big stuff.

I proudly wore it to church.

One of the earliest times I wore it we had communion.

I spilled the dark purple grape juice on my new pink skirt.  Right in the front.

I. was. devastated.  I hung around downstairs after church so not too many people would see and slunk out to the car quickly when it was time to go home.

Someone made the comment “At least you didn’t spill it on the carpet,” but that didn’t make me feel better.  Who cared about the carpet?  My new skirt had an ugly purple stain right in the front.

My mom got as much of the stain out as she could.  Then she sewed a ruffle around the bottom to hide the rest of the stain.

I never loved it as much after that, and I always wondered if people remembered why it had a ruffle.

There I am in June, with front teeth again.  It was demoted to a play skirt by that time.

That was the only time in my life I have ever spilled the grape juice, and I still think of it every time I take communion.

How ’bout you?  Did you ever spill the grape juice during communion?