143/365 Belated Mother's Day Present

Today was the 8th grade dance. Sure, I thought it was ridiculous for the school to plan the dance right in the middle of the Memorial Day weekend. We had thought about taking a little road trip or visiting my sis in Tallahassee, but my girl's a social butterfly, and she couldn't live with the thought of a dance going on without her. So we endured the search for a dress, shelled out the bucks, gathered the necessary accessories, and pinky-swore that I'd do my best to fix her up with a snazzy 'do if she wouldn't fuss at me.

I think she looked like a million bucks, though I must say the vision of my daughter in a white sateen dress gave me a preview of the nausea I'd be enjoying on some other white-dress day in the future.

She and her goofy friends enjoyed the dance, then during the ride home she begged for a friend to spend the night. Well, Dad and Mom had planned to attend a grown-up party, some 30 minutes away, with some new friends and cast mates. But I thought about being a girl of 14. I would want to spend the night with a friend after the dance. So we're home now instead of partaking of libation and lively chatter. I scrambled some eggs and toasted some bagels for the starving debutantes and set them up with a movie for bedtime. Out of the blue, my girl gave me a hug and a very sincere "Thank you for the most awesome day. I love you Mommy."

Worth it all.

141/365 Dress Success

Dress shopping with my girl is hard work. Too busty for most Junior fashions, too petite for Ladies, too fussy for most stores, in general, it's a nightmare. Enter the Eighth Grade Dance. $15 tickets to go to the dance in the Junior High cafeteria, and anybody who's anybody will be there. Now we need a dress. The search has been underway for a few weeks, and we were about to give up and go with a not-so-springy red dress she wore to a New York Bar Mitzvah last year. A last ditch effort took us to the mall tonight. We struck out in Dillard's, Penney's, and Belk. We checked the boutiquey stores, even willing to overpay and have little selection. Nothing. That is nothing, unless I wanted my daughter to look like a streetwalker. Our last chance at 8:40. Sears. We scored the white number for the dance, two have-em-in-the-closet dresses for all occasions, and a lovely pair of silver sling-back shoes with a moderate heel (all on 50% off sale). Mom is the hero, the daughter is happy, and peace and harmony will be with us in our humble home. For now, anyway.