The Perfect Prom Payday

My daughter H was on the hunt for the perfect prom dress. And she found it. It fit her perfectly; the color—a purple iridescent taffeta—was perfectly unique.

The dress was perfect, she said. It was also strapless.

Before you think mean ol' Mom put her foot down with a big N-O as a result, you have to understand my H. She's a modest kid. A strapless dress was never an option in her mind. No, the big question she had for me was how willing I would be to try to find the matching fabric needed to make the dress pass her dad's and my (and her) standards.

Seriously, iridescent purple taffeta is not a big sale item at JoAnn's Fabrics these days. I was worried. But we bought the dress. Because it was perfect.

Without going into a lot of boring details, but with some organza in both purple and pink, we got a close match. H was thrilled. I was still unsure. I asked my uber-costumer friend Paula for her opinion. She gave me the thumbs up. Well, if Paula thought it was okay, I guessed I was okay, too. Yours Truly spent a few nights hand sewing slippery fabric onto the perfect prom dress—and that's pretty tricky to do when you've got your fingers crossed the entire time.

In the end, it turned out okay. I was relieved. H was happy, and she looked beautiful on the day of the prom.

So you can imagine how we felt when she told us what happened at the restaurant before the dance. The place was full of prom-goers, teens looking their best and ready to have a great evening. While H was eating dinner with her date and their group, a mother with a 4-yr old girl came up to her and whispered that her daughter liked H's dress the best of all the prom dresses there.

Well, that was cool! H was flattered. (It is kinda hard to top iridescent purple taffeta, I suppose . . .)

But then later, before leaving the restaurant, H and the girls in her prom group headed to the ladies' room. Once again they encountered the mom and little girl. The woman, fighting tears, told them that her daughter had said that when she grows up she wants to wear a modest pretty dress like those girls. The mom thanked H and her friends for choosing to wear beautiful, modest prom dresses, and for setting a good example for her daughter.

What a perfect payday for some wonderful teens who were making good choices and were examples for good as a result, and for the moms who helped those girls look and feel elegant and special, despite what's frequently available to them on the store racks.