This year I experienced my first high school Homecoming dance with a daughter.

And, let me tell you, it’s leagues different than experiencing it with a son.

First of all, there’s the attire, and shopping for it (or  not). My son really only had to find a few articles of clothing – black pants, a jacket once, a shirt of specific color sometimes, and usually a tie. He put most effort into the tie. I went with him once or twice to shop for these things (actually, my main job was to bring the debit card, but I think he actually did want my opinion once on a tie and once on a suit). But anyway, ties are kind of boring to look at. And he’s pretty reserved, so we were looking at especially boring ties. Basically, it was just him and me and the Muzak, trying to find something quickly before we went home to watch Modern Family.

Dress shopping, though, with my daughter was a whole ‘nother world. … I didn’t even know where to go dress shopping, in fact, but my daughter knew. And she wanted to go with a girlfriend. So the two of them traipsed off to a huge outdoor mall and spent the morning shopping, but they zeroed in on the Shop of All Shops for Dresses and spent the whole morning there, trying on several dresses with about a zillion other girls. Continue reading →