Slice of Life 2020: 7 of 31- Prom Dress Shopping

March is for daily slicing, and all are welcome! Join us at Two Writing Teachers!

In an earlier slice, I mentioned a prom dress slice. I've been percolating that one, and I have a feeling there may be more. 

There are some parenting tasks that we have to do that involve more love than others. For me, prom dress shopping involves a LOT of love. I have tried to tap into a new way of thinking about this task, and with four daughters, I've had a lot of opportunities for those efforts. (By my count, my youngest daughter's senior prom will be my eleventh prom to deal with since some not everyone only went to just their two...) So, when Cecily asked if I'd road trip with her best friend and her mom, I said I would.

"Really, Mom?" Cecily responded, her eyes wide. "You want to come with us?"

(Clearly, I have to do a better job at hiding my prom dress shopping disdain.)

The trip began with Cecily's confusion about where we were going. Instead of heading to Madison, a town I love with one of my favorite all-time bookstores, we were heading to Milford, not a town I know much about. Cecily didn't know that part of my self-talk for going had involved a secret promise to take a moment inside of the said bookstore.

After our hour+ ride, we pulled into the prom dress shop parking lot where we were greeted by valet parkers. Valet parking. Oh wow. We walked in, and you need to picture the equivalent of the biggest Home Depot, but with gowns instead of fixtures, paint, and lighting.

"They're all organized by color," someone cheerily greeted us. "You can take up to ten into the dressing rooms." She gestured to the racks and racks and racks of clear garment bags with dresses inside.

By this point, I was feeling gratitude for deodorant.

You might think that in this sort of a setting, we could find some bargains, and yes, there was a rack of sale dresses. They were also in plastic bags, but most had scars and stains. None were of Cecily's liking, and I didn't blame her. The rest of the dresses on those racks and racks started with a 2 and went up to the high fives. Most of the dresses that appealed to us even a little were over three hundred dollars.

After about an hour, I might have paid that sort of price if it meant leaving and never having to do this again, but luckily, Cecily didn't like any of the dresses she tried on, and neither did her friend. There was a girl in the room next to us who decided on a dress that reminded me a little of The Little Mermaid with a price tag of $529.95. As we listened to the conversation between her, her mother, and the seamstress, the alterations would be close to $200 since it involved complicated shortening. And they bought it. Oh wow, again.

My prom dress adventure continues. Please let March bring success.