Alex in her dress

The night of the birthday party where Alex was to wear her dress, she had volleyball practice. She cleared it with the coach to get picked up at 3:20, the party people leaving for Seattle at 4:00. This gave us approximately 30 minutes to rush home and get ready. I was totally anticipating a screaming match over her hair. At first she wanted to "wash it, blow it dry and have it straigtened" a process that normally takes around an hour, if we hurry. I laughed. Anyway, luckily (?) the wind was blowing like hell and it was POURING rain all day. When I got her home, I told her her best bet would be to jam it up in a messy bun so she wouldn't have to worry about the weather and could relax and worry about the rain on her nylons or her open-toed shoes. Anyway, she agreed, and her hair was totally cute. It was almost effortless, getting her ready, although she did worry the whole way to the party that they would have already left. But she had a really nice time.

Oh, funny story, there was supposed to be one more girl in the picture, but after the way the friendship between her and Alex has turned out, I chose to crop her out. I'm not sure what her problem is, but I've told Alex that if she ever decides to start acting like they're friends again, Alex needs to have a serious talk with her first. You don't let your friends treat you so badly and then let them right back in if they ever decide to change. It's really uncomfortable because this girl's mother just loves Alex and really wanted Alex and her daughter to be on the same soccer team next year. I think most of the problems started when they both made the varsity team at school this year, so I deduced that it wouldn't be any better if Alex played on the same select team. Anyway, every time I see the mother, she asks me about soccer and mentions that she has the information on her daughter's team. I don't have the heart to tell her that Alex would probably quit before joining her daughter's team because of the way her daughter has been acting towards her. It's painfully obvious her daughter doesn't discuss anything with her, or she would probably know that she doesn't speak to Alex anymore. Then again, maybe you wouldn't go rushing home to brag to your mother that you have been totally shutting out the friend that your mother loves and telling the whole school how annoying she is. Who knows? And at this point, I am beyond caring. I will care, however, if they ever decide to be friends again.