Homecoming is this weekend for my highschooler: Friday nights is the game, and Saturday night is the dance. This is my alma mater, and when I was there the reality was you only went to the dance if you had a date. I fell into that odd place of "middle" uncoolest of the cool, of coolest of the uncool, and I regularly had dates to all the dances. Nowadays, the dance is open to all, and they go as a group. My daughter was asked by a football player is she wanted to "wear his jersey"? and that implied a date. She politely declined, and then later told me that she'd rather be with her friends that evening rather than someone who she's never spent time with.

So, DD was lined up for a high-paying marathon babysitting gig on Friday and she had planned on using those funds to pay for her shopping trip on Saturday. The mom broke her foot, so there was no babysitting gig. My mom gave my daughter $20 and I gave her a $100 American Express gift card from my vacation stash. I also let her go shopping with her friend to find a dress. I didn't feel compelled to go, my daughter is classy and knows how to put together a nice outfit. She knows what clothes she looks best in. She has a good fashion sense. Anyhow, the only advice I gave was stick to a size 1 and make sure that it fits because its another busy week and I didn't want to have to factor in a trip to the tailor.

Well, ex-friend (judgmental drama mama of younger daughters ex- best friend) has a way of turning up or finding things out about me and then commenting away to others. Apparently she ran into my daughter at the mall. She said how interesting her hair was: the last inch or so of her very long hair was dip-dyed in purple Kool-aid this summer and still has a dark maroon tint to the edges. Then she asked why my daughter was at the mall, and raised her eyebrows that I would let my daughter shop for a dress without me (something to the effect of saying to her daughter - "Don't let this give you any ideas about shopping for a Homecoming dress without me!")

Anyhow, my daughter found a very nice dress in a size 3 that fits her frame, a very nice silvery shimmery strapless dress that fits her wonderfully and she looks beautiful in. Dress was $58 prior to 25% off at Carsons and came to $47. She bought earrings for $8.50 at American Eagle, and has enough left on the card to get her hair done in an updo. She's going to buy her own ticket ($15).

I am grateful that my daughter was a wise shopper and that she felt bad for ex-friend's daughter who appeared very embarrassed my her mother's actions. I am glad that my daughter was more amused by ex-friends behavior, which wasn't really adult-like.

I suppose that next year younger daughter won't be shopping with ex-best friend for Homecoming dresses.