{"id":3428,"date":"2025-06-15T10:33:33","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T10:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=3428"},"modified":"2025-06-15T10:33:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T10:33:33","slug":"i-bought-a-12-prom-dress-from-a-thrift-store-inside-was-a-note-that-changed-three-lives-forever-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=3428","title":{"rendered":"I Bought a $12 Prom Dress from a Thrift Store \u2013 Inside Was a Note That Changed Three Lives Forever"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I found a $12 prom dress at a thrift store, a midnight blue gown with lace. Hidden in the lining was a note from a mother to her daughter, Ellie, apologizing for giving her up at five and asking forgiveness. Ellie never saw it; the dress ended up at Goodwill. Determined to find her, I wore the dress to prom, where I was crowned queen. My<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>teacher, Eleanor\u2014Ellie\u2014recognized the dress as one she\u2019d worn, donated after it appeared on her doorstep. I showed her the note, and she reunited with her mother after a tearful six-hour drive. They gave me $20,000, which eased my college path, turning my potential into reality. Grandma\u2019s thrift-store wisdom\u2014\u201cYou\u2019d be surprised what people give away\u201d\u2014sparked a chain of second chances for Ellie, her mother, and me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>I found a $12 prom dress at a thrift store, a midnight blue gown with lace. Hidden in the lining was a note from a <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=3428\" title=\"I Bought a $12 Prom Dress from a Thrift Store \u2013 Inside Was a Note That Changed Three Lives Forever\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3428"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3429,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3428\/revisions\/3429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}