The perfect white dress. Any mother of girls knows that the search and the struggle is real. I am the blessed mom of four daughters. I have experienced high school graduation twice already. My third daughter was hoping to have similar graduation experiences and lasting memories as did her older sisters.
Four years of high school and then a graduation ceremony is usually how it works, right? Unfortunately not this year. Some things happen only once in a lifetime. People say “don’t sweat the small stuff, there are more important things currently going on in the world right now.” You try telling that to a teenager who is missing out on their high school graduation and prom experiences. These kids have a legitimate right to feel sad and disappointed. This milestone in their life is a big event and will not be happening as they had hoped. Parents who have a child graduating from any level institution know what I am talking about. The disappointment is real. We have a high school senior who will be missing out on her graduation and all of the fun that goes along with graduating from high school. The pandemic of 2020 took it all away.
My children are unique, different from each other. And of course, each is my favorite. However, the one common thread is the search for the perfect white graduation dress. Not to forget about the multiple appointments with the makeup artists and the hair salons that all need to be perfectly scheduled. If you are a mom of a daughter you know exactly what I’m talking about. I must emphasize that the perfect white dress is never seen by others longer than 10 minutes and 1000 pictures later. It will be covered up by cap and gown and not seen again, ever. However, the hunt for the dress is real. It is exhausting and stressful but rewarding on so many levels once found. And secretly, it is a fun mother-daughter bonding experience. When your daughter finally finds her dress, and you see her smile, it’s worth it all. Please forgive me for sounding perhaps shallow but this is what really goes on, at least in my home, with a high school senior daughter about to graduate.
In many ways I have enjoyed my family all being together again under one roof. I have enjoyed family time playing games, making tik toks, exercising and baking together, doing puzzles and watching movies. However my heart is totally shattered when I think of all the lives lost to Covid 19. The situation is currently one that in my lifetime, in the year of 2020, I never imagined to experience. May we, God willing, very soon see an end to this madness and living our lives in our temporary “new normal” world.
To wrap this all up I wanted to express that I am sad for my daughter and all the girls and boys graduating this year of 2020. As much as the perfect white dress shopping experience was rough and at times completely ridiculous, the bottom line is that I would do anything to share this experience again with my third daughter. This year there will be no graduation ceremony, and no walking down the red carpet upon receiving your diploma, and no prom.
My message to my daughter and all graduates, is that those years In high school have been an accumulation of so many wonderful memories, so many experiences filled with growth, maturity, life lessons learned and friendships made. My wish to you, my dear high school graduate is to cherish those times and hold onto them tight. Say thank you and goodbye to the faculty and friends you made. Keep shining and reaching for the stars. And remember one day, God willing, we will be shopping together for another perfect white dress to walk down another type of aisle.
Sari Schiff lives in Teaneck. She is a wife and mom of four daughters. Owner of Zen Fit home exercise studio. She can be reached at [email protected]
