If you drove through downtown Jasper on Saturday afternoon, you would have seen classic cars, a stage with bluegrass music playing from it and hundreds of teenagers all dressed up and getting their photographs taken.
It’s prom season, and my oldest daughter Breeze was one of those gussied up. Lots of people know Breeze, she’s the girl with the wildly red head who works at 5 Loaves Baker and Cafe. Her lavender dress, complemented that red hair perfectly.
With a boyfriend who lives in California, Breeze was invited to the prom by one of her best friends, Reagan. They had a great time and danced all night, Breeze said.
With Breeze going to the prom, it made me think bank on my own senior prom.
I didn’t go to my junior prom. Several friends, who also didn’t have dates, and I decided a trip to Hooters and a Baron’s baseball games would be more fun.
Don’t get me wrong, that was a fun night, but, going to the junior prom was something I wanted to do, but I was too scared to ask a certain girl. Come to find out years later, she actually had wanted me to ask her.
The issue with my fear to ask her was that I had asked this girl two years before to be my girlfriend and she turned me down. She “wanted to be friends,”
On a side note, I had danced with the girl once before at our eighth grade dance. We didn’t go to it together and were not even thinking about being boyfriend and girlfriend, but neither of us had a partner for the dance competition. I’m not even sure how we ended up dancing together, but it was a night I’ll never forget. It was a night that had made me fall in love.
Fast forward to our senior year. My dreams had come true. I was dating that girl, and the fear of rejection again was gone. We went to that prom together.
The two most memorable things for me at senior prom were when the photographer told my girl to pull her shoulders back and it accentuated one of my favorite parts of her and the booty-grinding this sweet, innocent girl was doing.
After the prom, we went the home of twin friends. All girls made breakfast food for all us guys around midnight, and after eating, Andrea and I wandered off for some time together. Don’t have dirty minds. I don’t mean it like that. The two of us lied on their trampoline and looked up at the stars. There was a little kissing, maybe a lot, but the thing I remember most was the stars. I’m pretty sure they aligned.
That girl from the prom is my wife of nearly 24 years, Andrea. It was that night when I knew she’d be the person who I would be with for the rest of my life.
Proms can be special nights.
