Prom Dress Shopping

#1 and I went prom dress shopping this past weekend.  I can’t believe that my baby is old enough to be even going to the prom.  (Before anyone starts to panic that I’ve lost my moral compass here…she’s going with her best friend and a group of homeschooled girls.  It’s the homeschool prom. Did you know we had them?)  She’s a sophomore and has been talking about prom dresses since we said she was too young to go last year.

I took my ecstatic daughter to the mall and straight into Macy’s.  The clerks were thrilled to get to help her pick something to wear on her special occasion and jumped right in with dress suggestions.  She tried them all on because she hates to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I could see from the look on her face that none of these dresses were “the one.”

Finally, she looked at the sales lady and said, “Do you have any dresses that are a bit bigger?”

The sales girl looked confused and assured my daughter that she had a beautiful figure, the dresses were fitting her well, and that she didn’t need a larger size.

“I know they fit, but…..do you have any dresses that cover more than the towel that I wrap around myself when I get out of the shower?  Do you have dresses that cover a bit more?”

They didn’t.  Neither did several of the other stores we looked in.  The trend seems to be super short, low strapless little wisps of fabric.  I smiled at her and said “There’s no way dad and I are letting you out of the house in these.”

She smiled and said, “You don’t have to worry.  I wouldn’t let myself out of my room in them.”

She finally found a beautiful long green dress that moved enough to let her dance.  When she got home she showed it to her father who shot me a questioning gaze when he saw the spaghetti straps.  She saw his look and said, “Dad…why are looking at us that way?  I got a shrug to go over it.” Then she flitted out of the room to try it on for him.

My sweet Computer Guy looked instantly relieved, sighed after his too-big-to-be-ours daughter, looked at me and said, “Thank you.”

We worry sometimes about whether or not we are doing the right things with our children.  Then she picked the modest prom dress without a word from us and we knew we were doing alright.