Sunday was a memorable day for Tina and I, as we watched Lynn — who is going to the Neosho High School’s AFJROTC Military Ball slated for this month and the high school’s prom slated for later on in the year — showcase numerous dresses.
We decided, as a family, to go to Joplin and start at the Northpark Mall looking for dresses. Shortly before noon, we arrived at the mall. As we walked inside, I noticed a few teenage girls and their mothers waiting for the Deb store to open. Yes, that would be our first stop. In the front of the store, numerous and colorful dresses awaited the teenagers. Their eyes sparkled as they looked at them.
Then, the doors opened and the girls spread out looking at the dresses. And yes, I was the only father inside this store.
The dresses were in all colors ranging from black, white, bluish green, yellow, orange, you get the point. Lynn, loving the color black, looked and looked for dresses. We came up with half a dozen ranging in styles from short to long dresses.
As she started headed to the dressing room, she gave Tina her camera. She wanted her mother to take pictures of her in each of the dresses and eventually, Lynn would upload them to either her Facebook page or MySpace page, for her friends and family to see.
Patiently, I waited near Tina, as Lynn would come out.
“Do you like this one?” she asked Tina and I. “Or this one?”
Lynn narrowed it down to one dress and we decided to have the store hold it for 24 hours, while we grabbed something to eat and even look around at other places.
We trekked down the mall to other clothing stores, including JC Penney, Rue 21, Macy’s, Sears and finally ended back up at Deb’s.
As Lynn found another dress, Tina and I surprised her and we purchased the dress that she had picked out the first time we were in the store. It is black, long in the back and comes up a little from her ankles in the front.
With the dress purchased, sometime this week, we will have to find her dress shoes.
Lynn, have a good time at the Military Ball.
Todd G. Higdon is a staff writer and writes a weekly column for the Neosho Daily News. He can be reached at tghigdon@neoshodailynews.com.
