My Best Dress

“Y que vestido?”

(And what should I wear?)

“Tu vestido mejor.”

(Your best dress.)

We had been invited to our friend Andrea’s birthday party.

Now we were asking all of the local women what we should wear.

The answers had been:

“It should be short”

“It should be long”

“It should be pink”

“It can be any color”

But in addition, always “your best dress.”

So. It was going to be easy- all I needed was a dress that was long, short, pink, and every other color. Simple.

 

We took a bus to Tena to buy dresses for me and Abigail the next day.

After going into about a million different clothes stores (okay, maybe closer to 9 or 10), we found the dresses we needed.

It was red- I told myself it’s sort of a shade of pink- short with long tulle, and with sequins around the waist. It was close enough to perfect to satisfy me, so I bought it.

I’m not a hoarder, but let’s just say I hope this dress will fit for a couple of years to come.

I bought some little red shoes, too. Flip-flops weren’t going to cut it, and although my converse knock-offs cost a whole $10, they had blue shoe strings and would not match. My new “church shoes” are uncomfortable, which is a sure sign they look great.

 

The next night, ready for the party, we missed our bus. Missed it by fifteen minutes. And it was the last bus that went to Tena that day.

With no other options, we squeezed our family of five into the back seat of a taxi. All five of us. Mr. Daniel, who was coming with us to show us where the party was, called shot gun.

Forty minutes is a long time.

We finally, finally got there, jumping out and gasping for fresh air.

It took a good seven minutes for it to sink in that everyone was wearing pants, except for Andrea and her mother.

“You look nice,” everyone said. But I not not feel nice at all.

 

It did not matter when I tried to elegant. I could not walk without tripping over the tulle.

It did not matter when I tried to walk with everyone else. Apparently I shouldn’t have hoisted the tulle up, either.

 

The birthday party was at a church, and Dad had been asked to bring the message, and Tyler translated for him. He talked about the for things you will do in your life:

1)Eat and Drink

2)Sleep

3) Open You Heart

and

4) Serve

 

After that, all of the girls were given a slip of paper and asked to read it aloud. From the stage.

I tried my best- I honestly did. I just don’t think anyone understood what I was saying. “Aaaaahhh… niiiii…. baaaa… hheeeee…. ooooowww….. ooooo!!!!” was all they heard. But they clapped at the end, and for all I know I told them all I wanted was to eat the cake.

 

At the end of the message, there was some music and then the meal.

It was rice with chicken and vegetables, and a small salad consisting solely of lettuce. It was not much, but we ate it, thankful that we were eating, even though it was already 9:00.

 

By 9:30 or 10:00, they brought out the cake. It was gorgeous… and two feet long in every direction! The icing was pink and yellow- with chocolate icing spelling “Quinceanera” and “Andrea”.

Alas, it was not to be. Our ride, which was Tyler driving the Davalos’ SUV, was pulling out.

“Feliz, uh, coop? Candle? Crumpet? Um… Andrea?”

“Cumpleanos,” she said.

“Si!” I said, vigorously shaking my head. “Esto!”

 

But I wanted to scream “Nnoooo caaakkeeee??? Not after all I’ve been though!!!”