In search of the perfect dress..................

My youngest had decided not to go to her junior prom this year, but changed her mind when she was ask by her boyfriend. (This is where I said, "I told her so.") Then she said to me, "Since I have been ask by a real guy, (This is where I said, "Is there another kind?") Everything has to be just perfect. (This is where I said, "You ARE just perfect.") She was refering to her outside, ie. THE DRESS. (This is where I said, "Great! You can wear that pretty red dress, [we bought on clearance for twenty dollars, two years ago, to wear to a future prom] and you will look beautiful.") She informed me that the red dress was not what she wanted. She wanted a short, non-puffy, silky, backlesss, bright, maybe like orange, dress. (This is where I said, "No she didn't.") When she ask if we could at least go look at other dresses, I told her "okay," (This is where her siblings would say, "She is so spoiled.") but I would only give her twenty dollars towards the dress and she would have to pay for the remainder herself. (This is where she would say, "She isn't that spoiled.)

We started the search for the perfect dress at a real dress shop, just for fun. She tried on about ten of the dresses of her discription, and one pink cotton candy fluffy one. She didn't like any of the first ten, and claimed to not like the pink one. (I think the four hundred and fifty dollar price tag has something to do with it...... I raised her right.) When she put on the pink dress and looked in the mirror, her entire face lite up until she glowed. (Now, if this were a fairy tale, I would say, " The Fairy God Sales-person agreed that she looked so beautiful in the pink dress she would give it to her." BUT! This is real life. Come on! Spend that much money on a dress she would wear only once? I don't think so.) Off we headed to Goodwill.

Surprisingly enough, there were no fancy dresses at Goodwill. Others must have beaten us to them.

We ended up at the mall, with my youngest trying on several more dresses, and narrowed her choice down to a hot pink one and the yellow one above. Then she ask for my opinion. (It was about time.) I told her that while the hot pink one fit her really great she had said that "the thing on the front of it really bugged her," and that of all the dresses she had tried on the only time her face said, "I love this dress," was when she had put on the pink one and the yellow one. I went on to tell her that even though she thought she wanted a short, bright, etc... dress, I thought she really wanted the one that made her feel like a princess. She said "I was right," (again, I have raised her right!)and she settled on the yellow dress. Once she had done this, we looked the dress over very carfully and were able to find a tiny little snag (that the sales person had to put her cheater glasses on to agree that "Yes, it is snagged.") so we got ten percent off the price. (The moral here is "It never hurts to ask for a discount.")

Oh! By the way..... A few days after we got the dress, we got on the subject of who her boyfriend had taken to the prom last year. She showed me their picture, and guess what? The girl was wearing a red dress. The real reason she didn't want to wear her red dress had been revealed. I totally get why she couldn't wear red. (And I know all you girls out there get it too.) Incidentally, I am thinking of sending a thank you note to the young lady with the red dress. Thanks to her choice, I got to spend a fun shopping day with my daughter. How lucky am I?