New Season

The dance was Friday night!  I think the anticipation was more fun than the actual event.  There were dresses to buy, hair and nails to be done, choices to make on shoes and jewelry, etc, etc.  What fun the girls had! This was to be Liana's first dance, so that made it even more special.  I had two daughters this time getting ready for a momentous night.

The girls found their dresses early on.  By chance we found a great sale and they each found a dress for $5!  Unbelievable!  Everyone was happy, me most of all.  Then the "getting ready" turned into an event.  Friends were invited!  Arielle's best friend even spent the night the day before so the two girls would have all the next day to prepare.  Liana's oldest and dearest friend came over in the afternoon.  All four girls spent HOURS curling hair, doing nails, and getting into their outfits.  I made them a special dinner right before they left and we took indoor pictures and outdoor pictures on the wet deck with the dirty snow in the background .  What fun!  

 I had a moment of nostalgia.  Liana and Julia were in the bedroom and I peeked in.   Liana was holding the curling iron and Julia was sitting patiently as they worked on her hair.  These two girls used to play for hours in Liana's room with their Build-A-Bear animals and their Polly Pockets and their art projects.  Now here they are, nearly grown-up, getting ready for a dance, and having just as much fun.

I couldn't help thinking of my own friends in middle school and high school.  We also would have our sleepovers and talk the night away about school and boys and parents.  Of course, back then we had actual phone conversations instead of messaging and texting and skyping and all the other ways kids communicate nowadays.  But a girl still needs friends!  I often think of those dear friends who helped me survive my growing up.  June and Beverly, thank you.  Believe it or not, June and I are still friends after all these years!  I hope my girls have lasting friendships like we have.


So the girls went off to their dance. A tornado watch and flooding this night almost shut the event down.  The building even lost electricity for awhile.  What a disappointment that would have been.  But at the last minute, everything came together. 

We left the girls at their school and Fred and I had an actual date!  Wow!  What a gift!  It was wonderful spending an evening with my husband.  Soon it was time to head back out and pick up the girls.  Now the roads were covered in black ice.  Oh, we are so tired of winter!  But on the way home  I heard all the tales of who danced with whom, who wore what, and who said what.  I love it!   Liana had her very first dance with a boy and Arielle's special guy made sure he got all the slow dances with her.  

Back when my boys were young, my next-door neighbor Mary and I would walk around the neighborhood in May in the early evening on prom night.  We loved to see the girls and guys in their finest evening wear posing in their front yards getting pictures taken.  We would stop and admire them from the sidewalk.  I remember once that Nick had his girl in our yard and I was the one taking pictures, but mostly that was done at the girls' houses I think.  Now I have daughters!  And a prom in May this year!  Very exciting!  Very sobering.  Daughters...much different than sons.  Daughters to guard and protect.  It's a different season for sure.  I need much wisdom.