The second prom is now over and done with and Christopher and I discovered a new species here in South Jersey. It's possible that this species inhabits more high schools, but since his first prom was just attended by us saying goodbye, it was a relatively calm process. No new species.
The second prom introduced us to the group goodbye, and the new species of person: a prom mom. The first picture here is not actually one of those moms, and yes, it's exaggerated, but the overall look, the general impression of that overly accessorized personality is pretty much representative of the prom mom. Maybe shows like Jerseylicious and The Jersey Shore have made this species more normalized so they came out, especially at an occasion like the group goodbye at the senior prom. Since this was not his high school, I didn't know anyone, but after a few minutes, I realized that I had seen them briefly on those idle, rich housewife shows.
They loved the limo: it was one of those superstretch ones that could house a small village. When it drove up and swallowed the kids, it seemed really apropos. I waved to Christopher. He was sitting there in tux number two with his eyes very, very wide. Of course, it could have been optical distress from the glare of the many sequins and sparkles on the dresses which looked something like this:
Tiaras are really, really big in these parts. So are gloves and boas. Wow.
Anyway, once the proms are over and I'm on line buying graduation decorations, it can mean only one thing: summer is nearly here! And that means plans. Tomorrow is my last day of work for six weeks. Now, a friend of mine pointed out that taking care of a house, keeping track of and feeding three kids and half a dozen animals and finishing two novels is not exactly "off" - but in my world, no lesson plans and no students is off. I usually ask my students to have three writing goals a semester, so here are my three summer goals:
1. to finish YA book and MG book (in other words, butt in chair time)
2. to have a yard people can walk through without checking themselves for ticks
3. it's possible that, after nearly four years of living here, I actually might buy curtains. Well, I HAVE bought curtains, ones that looked like they would fit. You really do have to measure first. So it's possible that we will have more than KMart blinds on our windows.
You can bet those prom moms had some pretty amazing curtains.
So what are your goals for the summer?
12 comments:
For my prom this year I reused my Homecoming dress from 9th grade (I didn't know that you were supposed to wear short dresses to Homecoming so I showed up in a floor length gown). All I can say is I hope that his date was a "modern" girl, as in, "Here, let's split everything for Prom. I'll get tickets, you get dinner" sort of person. Some people at my school still insist on the asinine way by having the guy pay for everything, which makes me go - O_o. Anyways, I hope he had fun. For me Prom was slightly mundane but they had a free photo booth so my friends and I got to clog up the lines making weird faces, much to the general annoyance of everyone else. :D
Oooohh, showing up in a floor length gown...at least you "recycled" your dress --
They went to each other's proms so he paid all the cost for his - um, wait, his parents paid all the cost for his, and his gf paid all the cost for hers.
And they charged, pretty heavily, for prom pix here. You were lucky!
That pic brings back memories. I still see people who overaccessorize. You had a busy time with the first and second proms. I hope your kids enjoyed them.
Anne! You changed your look!
Yikes - that photo is scary! So I think my overriding goal in life is to never be a prom mom. Not that there's any actual fear of that - my daily footwear is a pair of running shoes. Nuff said :)
Glad your proms are over and summer is sneaking up!
So while I meandered over to your site, I click on your page and think, "Oh crap. The link's dead and I've got the wrong site." But I do love it, it feels very free and summery, which describes most of my plans for this summer. With the economy down there's basically no jobs for my graduating class (at least in my area) as the managers, panicking and sweating, clutch at the erstwhile sleeves of the college students they've hired the past four years. I have a basket of books to read, journal space to (trash) write in, and bottles of dandelion to decant. Here we go! (Oh I was wondering why high schools in your area get out so late. I mean, my school district is infamous for letting kids out as late as the twenty-first, but I thought that schools were cutting back on days. I guess it makes for more time to sign yearbooks :)
Maybe you could train the ticks to sew and hang curtains. That would keep them out of the yard, at least. :)
I love feather boas, but I don't think I would wear one to a public function unless I was, you know, onstage and performing something that was SUPPOSED to make people laugh.
Good luck with your summer goals!
He did have a good time at the proms - but I am not so secretly glad they are now history, Medeia.
Yup, Marcia. Very scientifically, I clicked to fix a typo and a bunch of new templates came up. I decided to live on the edge and click "Apply" --
I think the overly accessorized ladies spent some time at a wine bar before saying goodbye which added a surreal element to their overall presence, Jemi. Yes, it's a personal goal of mine not to become a prom mom also, especially since I live in the land of Prom Moms.
Nice goals, Shannon! The kids don't start here until around September 8 or 10, and I think other districts start earlier. My guess is the school calendar, like most decisions in education, have to do with funding/money. And I can tell you from a teacher POV and a Mom POV - very, very little gets accomplished in June, and a lot of detentions (water balloons, senior pranks, etc.) are levied. I am all for the tri sememester system in California.
Yes, K.C.,the ticks should be good for something. Emma loved feather boas up until about the age of 7 or so. She would wear them to dinner - come to think of it, she also wore a tiara a good deal of the time. Makes you think...
Oh, the idea of prom moms scares me. Some of them do make quite an event of it.
This year my daughter went to her winter formal with friends, and one of the moms sprang for a limo. Without consulting the rest of the moms, she told the girls they could leave the dance and tour the city if they got bored. Later she was miffed because they got out of the limo to snap a picture at a famous hotel. Heck, the limo driver offered to let them out at the gaslamp district downtown (fifteen year old girls in cocktail dresses, and two of them legally blind)...at least they had the good sense not to take him up on that offer...
Okay, I'll stop going on now.
That actually cracked me up, Adrienne. I know exactly what you mean. I'm not sure I ever felt quite so out of control as I did with all the "other" moms (and I mean "other" in the sense that we don't inhabit the same orbit at all) made the plans.
As your daughter already did, Christopher keeps teaching me that he really can make the right decisions when I'm not with him. I think I'm just a slow learner...and the gaslight district? Thank God his limo driver was about 75.
Another interesting prom night, thanks for sharing Anne. My daughter2 had a limo for her prom. I think that was the year Proms really hit the UK.
The road we lived in at the time was a dead end narrow one. The driver drove up and had to reverse back out, he could not turn around. The fool did the same thing on his return!
I know -- the limo driver seemed completely crazy -- he got out and was shaking everyone's hand and saying, "Deborah, there's a name! Flower of the valley!" and things of that nature.
To be honest, I am very happy all the celebrations are winding down.
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