Betty vs Marilyn

So here's a funny tale to share. O comes home one day and lets us know that she's been invited to Bs Sweet 16 party and it's a character party. *this tickles O because we don't celebrate Halloween, and dressing up has always been a kick for her, but to do it in public, well, that's the ultimate!!* She decides she wants to be Betty Boop. I'm thinking, ok, this is a church crowd I'm not so sure that will go over. But I try to keep my opinions to myself and pray that her mind will be changed. *excuse me while I watch our kitten try to look out the window by balancing himself on the arm of the other office chair. too cute how he's stretched up there looking!!* Ok, I'm back!! *lol* So Saturday we head to Kokomo to see The Longshot *good movie btw ~ made Brian cry, but then again, what movie doesn't? ;o)* And before going to dinner, we stop over at a dress shop in the mall right near the movie theatre to find Bettys costume.

In we go and she starts showing me cute tops and skirts and such, but no dresses. I'm beginning to think that this was a ruse to get more clothes. And seeing as we just had a shopping trip last weekend, I'm thinking that we better get down to business. So we head to the back of the store where the dresses are buy 1 get 1 50% off. And the dresses are marked down quite a bit in the first place. At first we're not finding anything that would be Betty. And then O says, is this a flapper type dress? I look & say, not really. Are you thinking of going as a flapper? She says that she's considering it. So we begin looking along those lines. Nothing really does the trick. There are a lot of dresses which I would consider disco looking, but nothing flapper-ish. ;o) Then I find this white halter dress. And I offhandedly say, well this one is sort of a Marilyn Monroe dress. And the next thing I know, I'm dressing my daughter to be Marilyn Monroe!!

GREAT!! Just what I need, a sex kitten that overdosed over 40 years ago. But I try to remember that this is in the spirit of fun, and she's SO excited, so.......I tag along. That's what I find myself doing a lot of. Tagging along. She finds another floor length dress that is just beautiful. White halter on top, black pleated on the bottom and says she can get that for one of the dances coming up. So I say, sure, try them on. I go looking for shoes to match the white MM dress and of course find perfect ones. Almost as if it's meant to be. *that phrase always reminds me of Robert on Everybody Loves Raymond!* She comes out in the MM dress and of course is a knock out. I show her the shoes, she LOVES them of course!! And there we go, we have the costume. Just need some really red lipstick, red nails and um, a blonde wig. THAT might not be so easy to come by.

She tries on the other dress, and of course she looks lovely in that one too, and best of all, she has shoes that will work w/it. *lol* So we make our purchases and then go to dinner. After dinner we look around Kokomo for a blonde wig, no such luck. Believe it or not, Hannah Montana is all we can find, and some of them are just pieces, not whole wigs. We come home and look a few places and no one has anything. So I go online and I find a cheapie one that I'm praying will be here by Friday since the party is Saturday. If it isn't, well O is going to be a light brown haired Marilyn. *lol*

What's funny to me is that I'm seeing her growing up right before my eyes and it's like this speeding train that can't be stopped. I'm aware that I'm in the moment and that all these life experiences are taking place, but it's a little surreal in that she was my baby just yesterday!! And now she's this lovely young woman who as of Friday already has a summer job lined up for June of '09 and I'm thinking, HOLD ON HERE!!!! This can't be happening!! She's still my baby!! And now, after all of this blathering, I finally have figured out why I have been on the verge of tears since yesterday. Time is slipping away from me. Before I know it, she'll not need me anymore and she'll be on her own, w/her own life, making her own decisions and I'll have to deal w/that. Not seeing her. Not being there for all the details of her life. Not be waiting outside the dressing room while she tries on dresses. Or see her go from blue jeans and a t-shirt to the lovely young woman in the fancy dress. I won't be there for any of that.

Will she even want to go to movies w/us in a few months? Or dinner? Or will she be too grown up for that? Busy w/her friends? Or school stuff? When she was small and still used to sit at the table and eat breakfast in the morning, I wrote about how quickly the time would come when I wouldn't see her there in the morning, and that time arrived last school year. She grabs something and crams it in her backpack for later. Now all I can look forward to is dinner. To see her face and know how much I love her and how much of my life I have poured into her, and how I have prayed that she would love God w/all her heart and soul. And before I know it, she'll be sitting at her own table, and I won't see her face at my table except for special occasions. So now the tears fall. That realization is just so difficult for me. How did this happen? When did she go from being my little cherub to Marilyn Monroe? How did this day arrive SO quickly??

I once told my sil who had said, "wait until she does this, or this. wait until this phase hits." "I replied, I want to live in the present and enjoy each moment as it comes, because they will pass so quickly, I don't want to miss anything." So now I have to really be vigilant about that. Live each moment she allows me to w/her. And prize them, because soon she'll be making her own moments w/new people in her life.

So Saturday I'll take Marilyn to the party, and I'll take pix like I always do, and I'll try not to cry. I'll come home & spend the evening w/my husband, reacquainting myself w/him again, and realize that it's time that we all make new lives, and adjust to how our lives are changing.

Blessings ~