The Photoless Date

I take a fair amount of {hopefully} good-natured teasing about the amount of photos I take. So I would like you to know that today I am telling you about a date we went on...and I have no photos.

Read: NO PHOTOS.

Shut the front door.

But I tell you about this date anyway, because I. Loved. It. So.

It is my annual tradition to buy a new dress at Easter. It's just one of those things I never let go of after I grew up. {Though some may argue I have yet to grow up.} Every year it's the same thing. I pick out a bunch of dresses online, show you, get your thoughts, and then whenever a skinny day arrives, I gather my courage, tour as many stores as necessary, take pictures on my phone, text them to random people for input and ultimately purchase something that makes me feel somewhat good about myself and is in the Cheapy McCheaperson price range.

This week I said to Ryan, "Could we maybe stop by a couple of stores to look for an Easter dress?"

He had no idea the potential drama.

We made our way through one store - finding only two dresses that we deemed tolerable - and we could not get either one zipped up once it was on me. Not because I was too fat, but because the zippers kept jamming. Quality stuff. So we went to store #2 and I giggled my way through the aisles as Ryan held up dress after dress, saying "SERIOUSLY??? THIS is fashion? Who WEARS this stuff???" I knew right then I'd picked well in the husband department. Some of this years choices are, in a word, hideous.

We pushed our way past the curtains-turned-dresses, paint-dropcloths-turned-dresses, and Grandma's-tablecloth-turned dresses and unearthed some decent options. I disappeared into the dressing room and began the task of trying them.

After each dress, I'd come out of the dressing room and get his opinion. A live, in-person opinion. No strange contortions in front of dressing room mirrors trying to get an unobstructed view on my phone. We wrinkled up our noses at most of them...

...and then I tried on "the one." He smiled. I smiled. I could breathe and already had jewelry to match. That made it a winner. And as I headed back into the dressing room, he handed me a shirt. "Here. Try this one. It's cute."

So I tried on a white t-shirt with a cute lace front...and came back out to get his opinion. He handed me a blue button down. "I like this one too. Try it?"

While you should understand that the similarities in the following analogy are quite limited, I have to say I felt a bit like Vivian on Rodeo Drive in Pretty Woman.

We stood in line with not only an Easter dress, but two shirts...and I felt so loved and spoiled. Never in my life had a guy taken me clothes shopping. Never had one helped me pick anything out, and never had anyone picked something out for me and sent me in to try it on. Never had one paid for everything and said to me "You're worth it."

And then we went on an impromptu date to Panera. We'd planned to go home and cook, but we detoured...and we sat across from each other in a booth, laughing and sharing and eating soup...and we brought home iced cookies to have later with our evening coffee.

We went to bed with most of our day-planner list still in tact for the day. We hadn't planned to be gone...to shop...to eat out...but that day was so lovely in every way. And while I have no photos to scrapbook its goodness, I have a love-filled memory...and that's a good thing too.