SoCS – A Red and White Dress

It’s time for another edition of Stream of Consciousness Saturday. First of all, congratulations to Shelley over at Quaint Revival for winning the SoCS badge contest!

Our generous host, Linda Hill, has given us this prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “dress.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

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I was in high school when my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer. It was a hard time for our family. Money was tough to come by.

I had a boyfriend I really liked and he invited me to a dance — a Valentine’s Dance. I was so excited but apprehensive about it because I knew there was no money for frivolous things. What would I wear for such a special occasion?

A few days before the dance, mom asked me to go for a ride with her.

“Where to?” I asked as we climbed into her blue Buick Electra 225.

“Maybe nowhere. Just a drive.”

We drove to a nearby community and mom pulled into a discount department store (maybe a Zayre’s). It did not take long to process the look on her face – she was sneaky proud. Mom wanted me to have a dress for the dance.

Somehow, mom had squirreled away a little money. I remember feeling guilty but also excited. I walked through the junior department and there on the rack was the perfect dress.

I went into the dressing room and tried it on. To me it was beautiful even though looking back it was made with that not-so-fashionable double-knit polyester of the time. The dress was red and white with a lace-up peasant top.

Mom said, “You like it?” and I nodded yes.

We went to the register and paid for that red and white Valentine’s dress. I think it cost $10, but even now, I don’t think I ever had a more beautiful dress.

The funny thing is I do not remember a thing about the dance. I only remember how happy it made my mom when she could buy me that dress. This is one of the times when I learned about the important kind of love between a mother and daughter. The dance didn’t matter and the money didn’t matter and the cancer didn’t matter. Not even the $10 dress mattered.

All that mattered was the love.

Image courtesy of Pixabay (altered)

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Check out all the rules on Linda’s blog. Then check the comments to read all the other SoCS posts for today.