Pretty Close to Perfect

Spending the day with three teenage girls may not be every grown woman's idea of the perfect vacation day, and I have to admit that I was a little apprehensive about the idea of spending the day prom dress shopping. I wondered if I'd just be in the way or only needed at the cash register, however I knew my daughter and her two girlfriends were very excited and I could not help but smile remembering my own prom dress shopping days with my Mom 25 years ago. There was nothing like trying on a dress and looking over to see my Mom smiling from ear to ear as she said, "You look beautiful, honey". Did I really want to miss out on this day, the day my daughter would shop for her first prom dress? Surely not. So off we went, the three girls and I !

At the first store the girls loaded their arms with colorful fabric in no time and I was surprised that none had exceeded the "six dresses to a dressing room" limit. I took my seat prepared to do the obligatory zipper-in-the-back pulling and waited for them each to emerge. Amidst giggling and oohs and ahs, each one found a favorite, but being the first store, the dresses were put on hold for the afternoon and we moved on.

We took time for lunch, stopping at a favorite Italian restaurant and the girls suddenly took to drawing on the paper tablecloths with crayons. More giggles and picture taking... and after a yummy meal we had the energy to continue on our hunt for everyone's perfect prom dress.

At the next store, the girls' eyes widened seeing the vast selection. I let them go through the aisles of beautiful gowns and after a little while, I helped them secure dressing rooms. Again I stood waiting for the fashion show. My daughter's friends each stepped out of their dressing rooms and I could tell that "the dress" had been found by each of them. In different shades of the same color, each of the gowns they wore were elegant and seemed fittingly perfect on the girls. And then my daughter opened up the door to her dressing room...I stood looking at my almost sixteen year old daughter and she took my breath away. Her gown was "the one", or so I hoped. I did not dare say as much until she expressed her own opinion. She loved it and quickly sought the opinion of her two girlfriends who also agreed. My daughter looked over at me to ask my opinion and I said, "Yes. It looks really beautiful on you. It's my favorite. It's you". She looked back at her girlfriends and they all started jumping up and down in excitement. Their silliness made me laugh as they screeched, "It's the one! It's the one!"

As my daughter pulled her hair on top of her head and turned around to see every angle of the dress in the mirror, I thought to myself, "Who would have wanted to miss this day? The day she found her first prom dress?!" Surely, not I.

Spending the day with three teenage girls may not be every grown woman's idea of the perfect vacation day, but today was pretty close to perfect for me.