Homecoming - Freshman Edition

Alyssa is taking in all the fun that is high school. I’m pretty sure she’s enjoying marching band even if there is the occasional grumble about football games and uniforms and ‘dinkles’ (the UGLY white shoes the band members wear when they’re marching.)

She decided pretty early on that she was definitely going to the homecoming dance and managed to convince most of her friends to go with her as a group. There were probably five girls who met outside the school last Saturday night.

A few weeks before the dance, I asked her what dress she was going to wear.

She said she didn’t know.

We looked at her current dress collection and she told me that the pictures her friends were sending her were much more fancy than anything she had in her closet.

So…we had to go shopping.

Unfortunately for me, she didn’t decide that none of her ‘non-sparkly’ dresses would do before I had my surgery.

So eleven days after surgery, my mom drove us to town and we started looking for dresses.

I declared that I absolutely was not up to going to Fort Wayne and tackling the mall. I was still in some pain and the bruising and swelling on my left side were still very much in attendance.

We started Kohl’s. There was nothing there that even came close.

Alyssa didn’t know exactly what she was looking for but she knew Kohl’s didn’t have it.

We decided to leave the tiny town of Angola and headed to the similar sized Cold Water, Michigan, only about a twenty minute drive north.

We went into Younkers, a store similar to Kohl’s and yep, their stock was similar too. Nothing in the line of sparkly semi-formal dresses for the teenage set.

As we drove away from Younkers, I saw another shop tucked away a few door down. It was called Sassy’s Closet. I know, very cutesy, but we decided, what the hell, let’s stop and see what it’s all about.

It was a consignment store. There were a bazillion dresses in that store, all probably worn once and then given away/sold to Sassy for resale.

We hit the jackpot!

This adorable little dress right here?

$18.

I know!

It fit her perfectly, she felt beautiful in it and finding it meant I could be done shopping. Win, win, win!

The afternoon of the dance, Lyss let me curl her hair and put a loose Dutch braid in at the top, pulling back her shorter layers.

Then she did her makeup and nails, put on a necklace and bracelet.

We discussed shoes for all of five seconds, at the end of which she told me tersely, “Mom. I’m not wearing heals.”

Okay, fine. Whatever. Be smart and save your feet the torture.

The dance started at 8pm. We left the house at about 7:15 to meet some of Alyssa’s friends at the park to take pictures. Everyone was so lovely and sparkly.

She reported that the dance was a lot of fun. Apparently, a senior with a stuffed monkey who waited outside with Lyss and three friends for a fourth (fifth?) friend to arrive paid for all their tickets. Now that’s a big spender. His date was already inside waiting for him. Alyssa declared she was going to pay him back for her ticket.

After the dance, Lyss spent the night with her friend Amelia, which meant I didn’t have to stay up late and wait for her to call me to go get her. That’s another big win in my post-operative book.

I love that she’s getting to have these experiences, that she’s embracing everything that’s coming her way. I love that she’s got really good friends, does well in school for the sake of doing well and is still sometimes very much my little girl.