To LuLu, With Love, Hong Kong

It was time to shop for a dress.  Winter formal was coming soon and we needed to be prepared.  Our small town only has a few options for dress shopping, and really you don't want to shop there because of the chance of showing up at a dance with the same dress as another girl. Yikes! Disaster!

Traveling to far-off Las Vegas is also a challenge because of the time commitment, traffic and it is almost impossible to find a dress that fits mom's criteria- sleeves and length.  Last time our shopping trip was 12 hours- 4 for travel, and 8 for shopping.  We spent a ton of money and still needed to add sleeves.  The dress ended up being so very beautiful and the LuLu (we think) was the Belle of the ball.

So, one early morning last November, I got up early and started to peruse dress-sites online.  After many long hours of viewing page after page of dresses, I finally found a website that offered hundreds of dresses, with many of them modest.  I then turned the task over to the LuLu to find her amazing dress.

She spent many hours scrutinizing  each dress.  She sent pictures to friends for their opinions.  She invited friends over and for many hours they searched for that special dress.  After several days, the LuLu found the one.  Her father helped her pick the color, burgundy, and then pulled out the credit card to order.

Immediately after ordering, the phone rang.  The call came from Hong Kong from a sweet sounding lady.

"You order dress?" she asked.

"Yes," Derrick replied.

"I cut material right now.  It is a beautiful color.  Do you want silver beading or white?" She questioned.

After some hesitation from Derrick, she replied. "I recommend silver.  It will be very pretty with color."

She then told  that it will arrive in 2 weeks.

Derrick called me  then to inform me that the website I had found was from Hong Kong.  Panic rose up into my throat, and I could tell that Derrick was feeling the same.  We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.

During the two weeks, we received phone calls from Hong Kong giving us updates on the dress.  We were anticipating the outcome.

Then one day after school when LuLu was walking in the door she spotted a package on our doorstep. She brought it in and noticed that the phone was ringing.  It was the same sweet lady from Hong Kong.

"You get dress?" she asked.

"I think so," LuLu replied.

"Open box and look at dress," the lady said.

LuLu opened the box with a beating heart.  Once opened, her heart sank.  It looked off, for some reason.  The lady seemed to know.

"I packed it inside out, to protect the beading," she said.

Relieved, LuLu responded, "ok".

The lady asked her to try it on.  She asked her if it fit. She asked the LuLu, if she liked it.  She then told her that she would be very beautiful at the dance, wished her well and bid farewell.

When we got home that night, the LuLu was beaming from ear to ear and very talkative- a rare occurrence in our teenager's life.

She tried the dress on and yes, the lady from Hong Kong was right.  She did look very beautiful.

Thanks Hong Kong!

With Love,  Monica