Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Here comes the flower girl

We took Bella to a bridal store last night to get her flower girl dress for a friend's wedding.

She walked into the store and my little tomboy of a daughter was instantly smitten with all the girly stuff to be had there. "Mom, it's like a store for princesses! It's all so beautiful!".

The store staff made her feel like a queen, an experience I think she really needed and appreciated. They took her over to the rack of flower girl dresses, showed her a couple of different sizes in the style she needed, asked for her opinion and took her advice, then walked her over to a dressing room. I helped her change into her little gown, and then she walked out into the fitting area so the sales staff could give her the once over. This is the dress (but not her, obviously):



And my little girl was beautiful. I had tears in my eyes, I kid you not - bedraggled recess hair and all, she was breathtaking. And she knew it. She couldn't take her eyes off her reflection in the wall-sized mirror, and could hardly talk. And if my child is speechless, you know she has been deeply affected. They put her up on a pedestal (literally), the entire sales staff was quite taken with her and came over to compliment her, someone brought her a headpiece and a basket....she was fussed over for the better part of 20 minutes and she loved every second of it.

I will tell you all right now - when I see her at that wedding, in full flower girl regalia, smiling her little smile and with her cheeks all rosy pink, I am going to weep. She's just so pretty, and so sweet, and really such a good girl (she just has bad moments) and I am so lucky to be her mom. I forget that sometimes, or at least lose sight of it. She was just so happy, and it made me so happy to see her so happy, and it was a beautiful moment that I want to hold on to.
Now we just have to wait for Valentine's Day 2009, and hope that she grows a little - just enough - in the places we need her to grow to make the dress fit perfectly. But not so much that the dress doesn't fit at all, that would be bad.
And in the meantime Bella is practicing for her flower girl duties by scattering anything she can find in multiple quantities all over the floor, a habit that was cute the first time it happened but now is irritating and slightly dangerous. Legos and hot wheels do not possess the same charm as flower petals, and they convey an air of clutter rather than one of romance. We're working on it.

4 comments:

T with Honey said...

The way you told this story I could picture the whole thing. And then I needed to reach into my own stash of tissues to dab at my misty eyes. Make sure you have waterproof mascara on for that wedding!!

Jen said...

Do you want to post the pic you have on your phone? Text it to me & I can make it so. I'm going to miss her this weekend. :)

Aimee said...

There is something magical about the flower girl dress. Francie was a flower girl when she was three and her dress was a mini copy of the bride's dress. I nearly bawled when they put the long white gloves on her.

They'll have to sedate me when she's getting her wedding dress :)

Laura said...

That is one of the prettiest little flower girl dresses I've seen.
She will be stunning.