An Update: Dresses for the Wedding

Part I

So, mothers of teenage girls, you know the problem.  How do you find a dress for your daughter that is appropriate to her age, modest, and meets her fourteen-year-old criteria for coolness?  It's not easy. Looking in hindsight, I'd say it's durn near impossible.  But, we didn't know this when we started out yesterday afternoon. We diddybopped hopefully through Dress Barn, J.C. Penney's, Kohl's, and TJ Maxx; they're known for having a goodly stock of dresses and are somewhat in our price range...  But we didn't have any luck in any of their stores.  The best we could do was try to figure out which dresses that hit below Michelle's knees might be ok if we found a little bolero jacket or light sweater to cover her cold, bare shoulders.  (Sheesh!) 

We didn't give up, though.  I let out the drawstring on my checkbook, we took a deep breath, and started out through the higher end stores. Surely we'd find something pretty and appropriate in one of them!

So determinedly we set out.  We still had a spring in our steps when we hit C.J. Banks and Coldwater Creek, but finding nothing, we began to drag by the time we got to Black and White and Chico and trudged out empty handed. At that point, pretty much all our resources had been exhausted. We knew from long experience that we wouldn't find anything at Walmart, KMart, and Target...  And I didn't dare go to the ritzy mall with the Macy's and Nordstrom's.  Michelle would have to wear a dress made from our living room drapes before we did that.  Alas!  (Heavy Sigh)

But, there was one more thing to try -- and Michelle suggested it.  We went thrifting.  And this is what we found:

$14.99

Looked like it had never been worn.

Fit her perfectly.

She already has shoes to match.

Thank-you, God and all our heavenly patrons!

(Found it on the feast of St. Michael, Michelle's nameday.  We think St. Anthony must have had a hand in it, too, though... And maybe St. Anne and St. Philomena; we think they like helping out in girly things like this...)

*Do you suppose it'd be gauche to leave that tag hanging on it?  After looking at dresses not nearly as pretty ranging from $70 - $125, I totally feel the need to brag about the deal we got.  I guess I'm just weird that way.

* Don't worry, Michelle.  We can snip it off, really.  The world pretty much knows now, anyway, I suppose.

(Seriously, though, don't worry, friends... Shell doesn't mind me sharing this.  She's just as tickled about the find-- and where we found it -- as I am)