Homecoming Rollercoaster

A lot has changed since I was in high school in the 1900s (as Sarah would say).

Case-in-point: Homecoming. I don't remember hearing that term until I was in college. So I was surprised when Sarah said a couple of weeks ago, "We need to buy my Homecoming ticket and go dress-shopping."

Not only do they have Homecoming soccer games (no football at her school--that hasn't changed) on Friday night, but they have a semiformal dance at a country club Saturday night. And, this year, they were celebrating the school's 50th anniversary (a year late, like most milestones in the era of COVID), so they had a festival at the school Saturday, with a road race, craft vendors, food truck, face-painting, slime-making, and activities. This was a big deal.

We got by with thrifted dresses for middle school dances but weren't so lucky this time. Although Sarah was game, we couldn't find anything at Plato's Closet when we stopped in Williston on the way home from the cabin on Indigenous People's Day. 

The following Saturday (T minus one week), Target came through with a reasonably priced dress that Sarah liked...two, actually. She liked the style of one ("bodycon") and the color of another (bright red), so we chose to buy both and decide later. 

We didn't find shoes at Target, so we went to JCPenney. She found a pair she liked, but they were pricey and, I thought, slightly small. The next size up was out-of-stock. She wanted to get them anyway, but I suggested we go to Famous Footwear and return for those if we didn't have any luck.

"What if someone buys them before we get back?" she asked. "I don't think anyone will buy them in the next hour," I said, dismissing her concern.

Off we went, only to find fewer options. Back to JCPenney.... Sarah waited in the car while I ran in to grab the shoes...only they were gone. I searched high and low, but they just weren't there. I returned to the car and broke the news, following up quickly with, "We can probably order them on line; there's time!"

When we got home, I ordered the preferred-style dress in red from Target and two sizes of the shoes from JCPenney...for about half what they were marked in the store. Both orders were supposed to arrive by Friday, the day before Homecoming. I was triumphant!

The dress shipped the next day. When the shoes hadn't shipped by Tuesday evening, I grew concerned. I called JCPenney and received a less-than-encouraging response. The order was in process, and, no, I couldn't expedite the shipping at this point. My chest tightened.

On Wednesday, I got a shipping notice from JCPenney, with an arrival date of Friday. We were back in business! 

Thursday, Sarah came home from school and told me it was tradition to get ready for dances together at someone's house and Sonika had invited her over after the festival on Saturday. Her mom, whom I hadn't met, could pick them up and drive them to the dance.

Trying to hide my disappointment, I said, "Let me think about it." Sarah said, "I know you like to take pictures before events; I promise we'll take pictures."

During my walk Friday morning, I realized Homecoming wasn't about me; it was about Sarah. I gave myself a little talking-to and decided it was fine if Sarah got ready at Sonika's.

Later that morning,  I picked up the shoes at the post office, and I thought we were golden. Then I got an email from Target saying the dress was delayed until Monday. Well, at least we had backups.

Saturday morning, I texted Sonika's mom to make sure she agreed with the girls' plan for her to pick them up at school and bring them to the dance, while I retrieved them when it was over. Little did I know that Sonika's parents are both from Cambodia. Texting only added to the language barrier. After a good deal of confusion, we got on the same page.

Don drove Sarah to school midmorning for the Homecoming festival, stopping at the post office on the way back. Low and behold, the preferred red dress was there!

After lunch, I ironed the dress and drove to school to surprise Sarah. She was thrilled.

Just as Don and I sat down to dinner, she sent photos taken at Sonika's house:

And later, some at the dance:

To say she looked more sophisticated than I did in my full-length Gunne Sax dress at junior prom is an understatement.

I made the long, dark drive on back roads to pick them up at 10, and they were jubilant. They had danced all night and Sarah's feet hurt more than her fractured elbow. I'd call that a successful Homecoming.