A Time When My World Changed (final version)

I zip my zipper in the back of a red gown.
Its rough red material always gets stuck in the zipper.
I slide on my shimmering white gloves and feel as beautiful as a princess.
I float to your sunroom.
You have a tea party set up.
Me with water.
You with coffee.
We even have those little sandwiches.
Turkey and cheese, my favorite.
All was lost just so I would crack a smile through chapped lips.
These thoughts drown me later as I turn down your dinner invitation.
I am sorry.
I know you understand, you are too forgiving.

Remember when you surprised me Christmas morning that one year?
Daddy was too busy working.
We played that video game until it was shot.
I won every time.
And I remember how crazy I was.
With my obnoxious elephant lion song.
And my never-ending energy supply stored in my soul.
I thank you for putting up with me.
That must have taken so much out of you.

But this was all a few years ago.
I have grown more now.
I'm dating now.
And driving.
I'll even be getting a job soon.

Walking into that building that one day sent my
Stomach plummeting to the floor.
Sure, it seems so inviting with its homey look,
Warm colors, and bright patterns embedded in the furniture.
But it is the one thing that'll flip your world.
I am in my only dress, brown and stiff.
Combined with painful heels, flat and black.
I shuffle my way down the aisle.
Sitting down in the front row.
I glance up at your wedding picture framed on a pedestal.
Salty and sour, liquid escapes my tear ducts,
Down my rosy cheeks.
Slithering its way down until it reaches my dehydrated mouth,
Leaving a dreadful aftertaste I can't swallow away.
Still, it feels unsatisfied
And sends more to finish the job.

So you're asking me when my world changed?
Well, that's easy.
The day I lost my best friend.
My hero.
My grandmother.
Forever.