Oh, the prom...

I went to a small school growing up, so I went to my high school prom all 4 years. For whatever reason I was scared to death of it, but I suffered through and by my senior year I was numb to the fear and thought it was mildly fun. Kind of like if you get lashed with a wet noodle enough times it might start to tickle.

I should ask my mom who my dates were. I think I went with Tom Martin both my freshman and sophomore years. That might lead you to believe we were "going steady" that whole time, but no. That was the extent of our relationship. Two dates to two proms that were a year apart. I don't think there was even a kiss at the end of the night. I wasn't disappointed. Tom was a really great guy though. He still lives in the same town.

My junior year I went by myself. Wow...I had forgotten how that felt and just typing it brought up all those old feelings of inadequacy, rejection, and being out of the loop. Ick. But I think I had the most fun that year because I wasn't worried about how I was acting or whether or not my date liked me. I danced with my friends, got down with my bad self to Mony Mony, and went home knowing I had passed some sort of solitude/fortitude test. My senior year I went with Shane Schutz. Tom, Shane, and I were 3 of 12 in our class. It was a small school. Wow, I really got around. I dated nearly 1/4 of the class! What a tramp.

The whole point of this rambling is to say there's a really cool prom coming up this Saturday that I wish I could have been part of back them. GAYla Prom. Angela and I went last year even though we don't exactly fit into the 14-22 age group, and we're going again this year because I'm hosting again. The kids are awesome. So friendly and happy to be in an environment that embraces them completely. I'm just happy to witness it...

http://gaylaprom.org