Last night I wore my daughter’s prom dress to a formal gala. And I got plenty of compliments. “What an absolutely beautiful dress,” people were saying. “It’s so gorgeous. Fits you like a glove.” The original intention was that it would fit my daughter Alex like a glove. And it did. It was too big, when she purchased it three years ago, so she had it tailored to perfectly hug her figure. A few months later, she left for college. And everyone knows what happens your first year of college.. you gain a few pounds.
Alex is taller than me. by two inches, and she has a very nice figure. But she can’t get back into the dress, so it is hanging in her closet at home and I keep borrowing it. I like the color–a soft olive green and the beaded shoulder strap. It’s not that I don’t have other gowns I could wear, but wearing her gown makes me think of Alex. And I miss her so much, that it’s almost as if she were with me when I’m standing in a crowd or out on the dance floor. Plus people keep complimenting me on my excellent taste, and I get to explain it’s really my daughter’s taste. She’s the one who picked it out, not for me, but for herself.
“And how is Alex?” They ask. She’ studying hard, I say and I get to brag a little about her courage in attending a college so far from home and her serious intent in pursuing a career as a physician’s assistant which means a pre-med curriculum.
Are there other mother’s out there who get to wear their daughter’s gowns. I don’t know, but I certainly consider myself lucky to have a beautiful daughter with great taste and to get to wear her clothes. And yes, sometimes she borrows mine. It’s a two way street!
Nadja Maril, Writer 