Momming

Our daughter’s junior prom is this weekend. She’s got her shoes and her jewelry, her photo plans, her date, her hangout plans, her dinner plans. As for her dress…

We returned from New York after midnight Sunday night, and I took Monday off of work to do catchup stuff at home, like buy groceries, mow the lawn, and hem our daughter’s prom dress. She had the day off of school, so after I’d gotten all my chores done and had a cup of afternoon coffee, she put on her heels, put on her dress, and stood on a chair so I could pin the hem at the right length for her heel height. I lugged my sewing machine out, spent half an hour digging through my sewing box to find a bobbin to wind with the right color thread, and tried to remember how to sew.

Twelve years ago, when our daughter was five years old, and so was her pink stuffed bunny, I had a different kind of repair to do. The tip of Bun Bun’s ear had disintegrated from constant loving. She’d already lost her bathrobe and was down to one slipper, and now the tip of her ear had a hole in it from five years of our daughter stroking it with her fingertip while she sucked her thumb.

Bun Bun’s injury made our daughter very sad. I remember we had a doctor kit with a little stethoscope and blood pressure cuff, and our daughter did pre-op on Bun Bun while I prepped the needle and thread for surgery. She listened to Bun Bun’s heart, she put the blood pressure cuff around Bun Bun’s ears to measure… I don’t know what.

I remember being very nervous about repairing Bun Bun’s ear. This was our daughter’s most precious friend. We all loved Bun Bun. She was the best. It was a lot of pressure.

I felt similarly about hemming our daughter’s prom dress. Prom is a big deal. Prom dresses are a big deal. She assured me nobody would be looking at the hem of her dress half an inch from the floor, and not to worry about even stitches or how neat it looked.

Still, I wanted to do a good job.

I measured three times, had her try it on again before I made the final cuts and seams, then pressed the thrice-measured hem in place and stitched it up.

The dress is ready now, and she’s happy with how it turned out. Bun Bun approves as well.