Last Father-Daughter Dance for Now

All of the “drama” of yesterday had come to an end as my daughter and I got ready for the Father-Daughter dance. Ever since my family returned from New Jersey my daughter has asked about this dance. The preliminary plans were established prior to Christmas and the final plans came out two weeks ago. The last father-daughter dance I attended was in 2006 when my daughter was a second grader. Yes, it has been two years and now my daughter is in her last year at the elementary school as a fifth grader. There weren’t any father-daughter dances in New Jersey while my daughter was there and thankfully the school out here has maintained the tradition.

The theme of the dance was “High School Musical III” and not being very familiar with this film I don’t really know what that means. My daughter is very familiar with this film and so is my wife. My daughter dressed “to impress” and was so adorable in her black and white polka dot dress. It was suggested to me that I should wear a suit and this is exactly what I wore. I had on my best navy blue pinstripe suit and was ready for what is most likely the last father-daughter dance. My daughter will be attending middle school next year and as far as we know there aren’t any father-daughter dances at the middle school so this would be the last. Of course I regret not has been “available” for the last two dances but I am extremely grateful to have the opportunity to attend the dance last night.

We both got ready and each of our outfits was accompanied with corsages; very beautiful corsages complete with red roses. My corsage was pinned on my suit jacket and with a little help from our dear friend my daughter’s corsage was pinned on her dress. We took pictures prior to the dance (which have been posted on Facebook) and were headed over to our dear friends’ house to pick them up to go to the dance. More pictures were taken and we were on our way to the school. The dance was held in the Multi-Purpose Room and was decorated very nicely. The music was blaring and a great time was had by all. I didn’t recognize a few of the songs but by the same token there were a few songs my daughter didn’t recognize since they were from “my era”.

The evening went by so quickly and we did have a great time indeed. After the dance we went to the local yogurt store for some self serve yogurt sundaes. This was exactly an original idea since most of the other fathers were there as well but my daughter was with her friend and met another friend there. We ate our yogurt and listened to the girls chat. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Friday evening. Yes, it was two years since the last dance but that two years went by so quickly and I really understand the value of time. Today was a very special day through and through and quite possibly the next father-daughter dance I attend would be my daughter’s wedding (oh my!!) but I don’t want to fast forward that far!!

We finally are having rain which caused my son’s flag football game to be cancelled today. This was unfortunate because my son really enjoys playing football and the season is winding down. He only has two more games remaining and with baseball season starting the days are going to get very busy. Today my wife was in full preparation mode for a birthday party weekend. My children have birthdays three days apart and this does present some logistical issues. The upside is that the celebrations are all over for the year but the downside is a very busy 24 hours. Today the preparation was for my daughter’s sleepover party for her 11th birthday. My daughter’s actual birthday is on Wednesday the 11th but tonight was the preferred day to have the party.

My wife is so consciousness about everything she does and especially when it comes to our children. She puts her heart and soul into the preparation and I am in awe of her. The house was ready not without controversy since my daughter really didn’t help her mother. A few choice words were said by me and that quelled the controversy. Everything was right on schedule and this evening six of my daughter’s friends arrived for the sleepover party. In the past I would make myself scarce but tonight I had fun just watching the girls interact. My wife had a wonderful craft for the girls as they were given picture frames to decorate and some of them were very creative in decorating the picture frames. I was the photographer and took pictures of the group to be placed in the picture frame. I was able to take the digital image and print out 7 copies for the frames. This came out great and I thought it was a wonderful idea indeed.

I was very surprised how loud 7 girls could be. I guess the whole dynamic of the “quiet young girl” changes as they approach their teenage years. I know my son and his friends are loud but to me that is to be expected from 7 and 8 year old boys but the girls were much louder. It seemed to me everyone was talking at the same time and no one was listening but they were having a great time. After the craft I picked up the pizza and the girls ate the pizza and had birthday cake a little later. It appeared sleep would not come until much later in the evening because after the cake my daughter had picked out “Grease” to watch. I thought this to be an interesting selection but the movie did seem to keep the girls interest. I had had enough and said my goodnights and went off to sleep while the girls continued to watch the movie and have a good time.