Junior Prom

The moment I found out I was having a little girl I dreamed of a night like this.

Just the words Father/Daughter Dance make me want to cry. The night of the Masquerade Ball we received a flier that our local Kiwanis club was sponsoring a dance on November 21st. I'm sure Handiman realized instantly that he'd better mark his calendar. There was no way I was letting this opportunity slip away.

I suppose I've lived vicariously through my daughter on more than one occasion. After all, she is living out the life that I so desperately wanted as a child. And she has the long blond hair I always wanted. But there's no other part of her life that I would have envied as a child more than her relationship with her Daddy.

I never knew what it was like to have the kind of Daddy that the Ocho has. I never loved my Daddy the way she loves hers. Because of him she has a respect and admiration for men that I never experienced at her age.

And I love that when we first heard about the dance he never even questioned it. He didn't need to check his calendar or see what was on TV that night. He just knew he was taking his little girl. He even helped her shop for her dress and shoes. In fact, he's very proud of the fact that he was the first one to spot the dress she chose. I don't doubt his love for it was a big reason it was chosen. Few people's opinion matter more than her Daddy's.

Before he came home she had me paint her nails and put a few curls in with the curling iron. She put on her fancy dress and sparkly shoes and proudly went to him for approval. When she found out he was taking her to The Olive Garden for dinner she was beside herself. "Wow Mommy. That's the fanciest restaurant in town!"

The hardest part of the night for me was having to relinquish control of the camera. I pleaded with him to take pictures but honestly I didn't get my hopes up. You Moms out there get it. Usually if Mom doesn't take the picture, it doesn't get taken. But he surprised me.

What made the night even more special was her 2 BFF's also have amazing dads. They all got to hang out, dance and act silly together at the dance.

When I grilled The Ocho for details at the end of the night, here's what I got:

"Dinner was really good and I didn't get anything on my dress." (I may or may not have been belligerent about this particular detail when they were leaving).

"The dance was really fun and I really did dance!" (She generally doesn't like to participate in activities where complete strangers might watch her do things like dance. I might have said something along the lines of "I'm not buying a new dress and spending money on these tickets so you can sit in a chair all night long. You'd better dance!")

"Daddy was a little embarrassing but the other Dads were too so it was OK". (Daddy fancies himself a great dancer and tends to breakdance during Michael Jackson songs. Too bad for her they played "Billie Jean".)

"I had a lot of fun but I didn't get on the stage like Abigail & Selah". (Her friends are slightly more extroverted than she is so when they decided to showcase their abilities by walking on the stage and bustin' a move to "Love Story" she decided to hang back.)

Now, on to the pictures:

Just like a princess going to the ball

The Ocho & her cute date

Hanging with her girls
Best. Dads. Ever.

*One final note. I'd like to give props to our friend Steve for confronting the DJ when she decided it would be a good idea to play "Fergalicious". Ummmm, what exactly are people thinking? I think it's just common sense that Fergie shouldn't even be on the playlist of a dance designed for children held inside a church. Thank you and goodnight.