Clarity

This Easter will mark 11 years since I entered the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil 1998. I was 25 years old. When I was preparing for my Confirmation (I was baptized as an infant in the United Methodist Church) and Communion, my best friend and sponsor encouraged me to shop for a special dress for the occasion. It was a big deal, I agreed, but I didn't want to spend money frivolously. "Nonsense," was her reply to my protests, and off to the mall we went. I did find a really beautiful cream-colored, Asian-inspired dress with a navy-blue floral print. I wore it several times until babies started coming along and now it hangs in my closet collecting dust and sentimental value. It is my First Holy Communion dress, and it will never go the way of Good Will.

Now my oldest daughter is 7 and is preparing for her First Communion. In the past 2 weeks, we've started dress shopping. We thought we found the perfect dress online, but, alas, it's too big and may be unalterable. Today we spent about 5 hours scouring every possible dress shop in town for the perfect one. Lucy has very specific opinions about bows, embroidery, and embellishments, and definitely leans toward a "less is more" philosophy of style, which is not that easy to find in the little girl department.

We now have 3 options hanging in the closet, of which 2 will be returned asap.

When she was born, I dreamed about this shopping day and what it would be like. She emerged from the womb feisty and vocal, so I figured she would have definite opinions about her dress. I just prayed we would not have total conflict.

Well, we did not. She has been very understanding about staying in budget, keeping it modest and not-too-mature, and has accepted suggestions. This has been a pleasant experience and one of the best mother-daughter bonding exercises we've enjoyed in a long time.

I think Lucy said it best when we were noticing a label called 'cinderella' on a dress that came with a tiara:

"It's a sacrament not a fairy tale!"

God bless Lucy for keeping it all in perspective and helping me keep do the same.