It's been graduation & prom time, which has made me nostalgic about my own. I really had a lot of fun in high school, and the end of it was such an impactful time. We were all just starting to figure ourselves out – not really our adult selves, but that weird time between 18 & early 20s where you’re not really an adult but you either think you are or wish you weren’t, and have no idea what is in store in life. I could write 100 blog posts about my high school years, and I am sure I have a few diaries in my closet from then. Don’t worry friends, I would only keep up diaries for a day or few at a time, every time swearing I was going to start writing every day. I still do that – shocker. Before I left for college, I also threw away multiple trash bags filled with intricately folded notes from my 4 years in high school; now there is texting. You probably don’t need to worry about me cleaning out my closet any time soon to find those diaries either – some things never change.
Anyway, prom was fun. I was definitely starting to struggle with who I was. My boyfriend at the time went to a different high school and I told him I just wanted to go to prom with my friends. It was so bitchy, but I just didn’t want to deal with babysitting someone for the night because they didn’t know anyone else – I just wanted to have a good time. And I did.
- I designed my dress, picked out the fabric and my mom’s friend sewed it. Thank you mom & Carol! Fun fact – Carol also made my mom’s prom dress in 1964.
- The day of prom I cut off my hair after it being long, blondish & permed for 4 years – I didn’t tell anyone I was doing it and I just showed up.
- I wore argyle socks and brand new perfectly matched maroonish Vans. I am more of a Converse girl, but I couldn’t find any that were the right color.
- I loved that my date drove us in a classic car instead of us going in the limo with the rest of the group.
- I wouldn’t take the professional prom pics at the dance – probably a combination of rebellion against society and laziness, so I thank my friend Sandra for keeping these pics.
- I drank a lot of tequila at the after party (someone’s house whose parents were very awesome – I won’t mention by name unless she lets me). I don’t recall drinking before prom at all – I am pretty sure we were all still traumatized by Donna Martin.
- I made out with a guy friend that was not my date, and he just married the man of his dreams last weekend!
- We all hung out by a fire pit and talked, and all in all it was an epic night.
I am so so so glad we didn’t have cell phones or Instagram or SnapChat in 1994. Our parents talk about their generation being simpler times, and I now know our generation was maybe not simpler times as far as what was going on inside our heads, but still more private and less cluttered. Yet we still had some of the same thoughts as anyone ending high school. Some of us did not get along with our parents, some people did. A lot of us were preparing to leave for college, some of us very far away from home. But we also still had one last summer ahead of us – in a beach town with sand, ocean and bonfires. Most of us with our own cars and independence, and ready to enjoy every last minute of it. I am 40 now, and I still plan to enjoy every minute of this summer.
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| My sister Marissa & I! <3 |
