The Princess Diaries

Yesterday afternoon, Miss Whimsy and I headed out for one of my favorite adventures of the year, the annual prom dress expedition. Prom comes early here in south Georgia, and if you want to get “the” dress in time, you must begin looking in early January to allow plenty of time to order the right size and have any alterations made. So this over the top Prom Mom looks forward to January like a kid to Christmas. You see, I have an unashamed princess complex. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that I enjoy more than a princess project. Those long, swishy dresses take me on a mental road trip to a gentler time and era. I love to watch the transformation from girl to princess. And when my own daughter is said princess, it’s like Christmas morning.


Because if my daughter is the princess, doesn’t that, by default, make ME the queen? Why yes, it does.

In our little town, MLK Day is Prom Dress Black Friday. Because Miss Whimsy and I do not do crowds well, we decided to venture into prom dress paradise early to avoid the mania.

So we went in…

And we set up our dressing room...

And we foraged through the racks upon racks of gowns to find ones to try. (Actually pretty easy when you bypass everything shagadellic, sexy, or sequined)  We know what we like: rich colors, crisp fabric, bandeau style, folds and ruching… a little sparkle doesn’t hurt.

Now, I have a strong desire to see my princess in a poofy dress…the type that makes her look as if she’s perched waist deep inside a cupcake. The girls know that it makes the Queen very happy if they will just try a cupcake dress or two. Last year, Miss Whimsy actually chose a modified cupcake…. I was over the moon.

So we tried on reject after reject…

And then, out she twinkled in the next- to- the- last dress, a very simple gown in a rich teal which looked beautiful with her skin and eyes. She hugged herself and said, “I just have to own this dress!” Now, a more practical mother would have stopped right there… paid for the dress… mission accomplished...but I knew that waiting on that rack was a perfectly lovely deep red cupcake, and I was determined to see it on her.

So she tried on the deep red cupcake. And it was just beautiful. To me.

We stood there staring at each other. We loved them both. The red was the more stunning dress, the teal the more stunning color. The red was a little too much like last year’s dress in style, the teal a little too much like it in color.

So she tried on the teal one again.

And then the red one again.

Then teal.

Then red.

Teal.

Red….

Yes, I saw the looks that the clerk was shooting the owner. I also saw the price tags and decided to ignore those looks. In desperation, we called Macon, begging guidance from The Practical One and her cousin, my favorite professional princess. We tried to have them check the two dresses online, but they couldn’t find them.

We called Dad. Don't know what I thought that would accomplish.

Finally, I just said, “Let’s take the teal.” She scrinched her shoulders and hugged me. It was, after all, her princess dress and not mine.

So we paid for the dress, walked out, got in the car, and headed here:

And then, I looked at her and said, “Are you sure we shouldn’t have gotten the red one?”