Senior Prom

Offspring the Second's Senior Prom is rapidly approaching.  Herself was not sure whether or not he would attend this event:  he is an old soul, and has often eschewed the more pedestrian events of high school.  Slightly surprisingly, he seems to be pleased to attend prom. Appropriate vestments have been obtained and accessorized according to his unique sense of style.  He is going with friends. It appears that he is serving in the Prom Court as a representative of a student club for which he is president; the composition of the Court and associated individuals is rather a bit of a mystery to Herself, whose high school was far too small for such prom intricacies.

Herself is happy for Offspring the Second.  She hopes that his Senior Prom generates some fond memories upon which he can look back in the years to come.  One of her greatest delights:  to see the Offspring happy. Lovely people they are, deserving of joy and mirth and contentment.

Herself attended her own Senior Prom. Her escort was an earnest, polite and humorous young man.  They went together because Herself's friends knew Herself had no date, and her escort's friends knew he had no date, and so, all the friends connected the dots and provided the phone numbers for the necessary conversations to happen and arrangements to be made. It was a tiny bit awkward, partly due to Herself's difficulties in making small talk, as well as due to the fact that Herself was occasionally distracted by a former boyfriend -- who had broken up with Herself only the week before -- who spent what seemed like an interminable amount of time French-kissing his new girlfriend on the dance floor.  Ew.

(We've mentioned Herself's Senior Prom a bit before, here.  To recap:  Herself and the ex-boyfriend in question had a clear-cut difference of opinion: whereas he felt that the three weeks they had dated should have been considered sufficient time for Herself to have sex with him, Herself felt differently. And so, he moved on quickly, after proffering her some advice about her needing to 'put out' if boys were ever to be interested in her. Herself was offended and, truth be told, deeply hurt at the time. Alas.)

What is it about these Teenage Milestone Events such as Prom?  Why are they built up to be such tremendously important occasions? Are they? They are so very critical at the time, and yet, twenty-eight years later (how can it possibly be so long ago?), Herself's own Prom is just a minuscule drop in the bucket of Life.  It's an interesting perspective -- the view of Prom from the heart of Middle Age.

How time flies.