The Prom, The Memories

by Dessa Rodeffer
Quill Editor/Publisher

19 May 1999

The Prom. It was over so quickly....and they planned so long.....it almost reminded me of my daughter's wedding.

She felt blue when the wedding day was all over, and not because everything went wrong.

She had looked forward to her wedding day for so long, and always dreamed what it would be like.

She worked so hard on all the details and wanted everything to be perfect. She had looked hither and yon for the loveliest affordable wedding dress, and finally traveled to Chicago for her choice and fittings. She anxiously pondered if all would be done on time.

Most everyone else did not feel any stress and thought the wedding was so very beautiful. But after the wedding she cried from all the tension, anxiety and emotions in the air.

Later she confessed, "I wish I had relaxed a little more so I could have enjoyed it a little more and had not been so stressed about all the details. It went so fast, I can't believe it is over."

But it is not really over for the memories and the photographs will always be a family treasure, and the ordeal will always be something we can share with our children, our grandchildren, and others.

That is also the way I remember my Junior-Senior Prom. Thinking about being old enough to dress in formal attire and attend a ball. I think it comes from our mothers reading to us stories like "Cinderella".

Picking out the formal prom dress, getting my hair fixed up (although my dad always thought it looked better left straight and long), was so exciting. There were the weeks prior hoping that the "right" person would ask you for a date to the dance. On Prom afternoon, my girlfriends and I picked up our guys' boutonnieres, painted our nails, had our hair done, and then put on our make-up before we put on our formal dress with matching dyed shoes.

Finally, the moment came. Our parents looked at us rather strangely as they stared at our hair piled on our heads, spike heels, scoop necked gowns, and seemed to be more comfortable when we were playing with our dolls, or riding our horses. But before they could say anything, our boyfriends had arrived carrying a corsage, dressed in a handsome suit or tuxedo, and driving the cleanest, nicest car they could borrow. In my case, it was a yellow convertible from the local Ford dealer, Russell Davison. What a thrill that was!

I remember feeling so eloquent, and I believe there is something about how you dress which affects how you feel about yourself, for I felt like royalty even if I wasn't in the royal court that evening. At our high school the gym was decorated at its finest. We sat down to a banquet meal and there was a short program, but I do not remember what we had to eat. We danced, took part in watching the excitement of the coronation, danced some more, and then it was over:like a flash!

That evening, my girlfriend and I lay on top our beds, not able to sleep, feeling wonderful about the evening. But we were also feeling sad that it had gone so fast and now it was over. It reminds me of the movie "Splendor In The Grass" and the poem that is associated with it. We can never go back and relive those special moments, but after we have experienced them, we can recapture them in our memory. No one can ever take them away from us for it is part of our life.

It was fun to attend the Southern Junior-Senior Prom at the Pzazz in Burlington and seeing how beautiful the students looked: right out of "Seventeen Magazine" it seemed to me, and it made me recall my high school experiences. The students there, also agreed. One said, "It seemed we were sitting there, talking, and before we knew it, it was over."

Ah... but the sweet memories are worth all the preparation.