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We bought the dress today. The matric dance dress. I must say it was relatively painless and we are still friends, but it did take the better part of two days and we had to call in reinforcements in the shape of Auntie J.
We started out yesterday and saw a stunning dress in the first shop we went to. She loved the way she looked in it but felt that a matric dress deserved more searching than simply buying the one in the first shop! Not sure of that logic as I couldn't see how finding the one, meant going to look at some other dresses in other shops. Anyway, it is a big deal and so I indulged her as we criss-crossed the street and mall, leaving possibilities at each shop to come back to the next day. For a change she loved trying on clothes.
"We need someone", she said in front of the mirror in the change room. "I need Auntie J!" (Auntie J has an only son but has enjoyed being surrogate aunt over the years). "Tell her I need her". Auntie J happily obliged and rocked up at the mall this morning, wearing her flatties, ready to pound the pavement. So we criss-crossed the mall and street, checking up on all the possibilities, trying them all on again in front of hopeful sales assistants. Auntie J expanded the search to include after-party dresses and even a dress for me!
Time for coffee and decisions, we decided. We toasted to the matric dance with our cups and shared stories of our own dances with her. It certainly was a much more low-key affair, pre-American-television-inspired Proms. Auntie J had two matric dance dresses - one that her church-going mom thought was suitable and one that her fun-loving dad whisked her off to buy when he saw mom's contribution. Mom apparently prayed over that dress before she saw her off to the dance!
As for me, I got the sensible outfit that "could be worn again". I got dropped at the dance by my date's dad and I am sure we were back home before the Cinderella hour! Who had ever heard of an after-party never mind an after-party dress!
After coffee we went back to the first shop to buy the first dress. So now it is the hair and makeup, shoes and accessories, etc. I can see why the school is having the dance so early in the year - no-one would be focusing on exams if it was later in the year. I had fun doing this with her and I say thank you for a daughter (and reinforcements!).
1 comment:
I have tried (unsuccessfully) to forget my matric dance...I was not meticulous in planning it, so it turned out horribly. I ended up with a default date and a default dress...I took too long responding to the date I wanted to go with, because I didnt want to seem desparate, so he ended up going with someone else, and I allowed a woman down the road to make my dress which I only saw the afternoon of the dance and it was HORRIBLE! Plus the lady next door decided to do my make-up and turned me into a ghost. When I got my pictures a month later, I used them to start a bonfire...so, be happy you got reinforcements. She will have an enjoyable experience.
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