MEMORIES
May 5, 2003
It's prom time here and across the country, and I was reminded of my high
school proms. When I was a junior, I ended up going to the prom with my
friend Peggy. Peggy was a great girl. She was also a little larger than some
of the other girls, so in junior high she was nicknamed "Ms. Piggy," and it
stuck. And since she and I were friends, I was thus christened "Kermit."
Anyway, during prom (which was themed "Everything I Do" after the Richard
Marx hit that year), she and I double dated with her twin brother and his
date. It was a lot of fun, but since I didn't know ANY country and western
dance moves, I was unable to participate in any of the dancing. Keep in
mind, I went to school in Eastern New Mexico... which is VERY rural and VERY
country. Peggy didn't know how to dance either, so I didn't feel so left
out.
JUNIOR
PROM PICTURE (1992)
Because of my lack dancing talent, the next year I took a C&W dance class at
the nearby community college. I decided I could learn some steps AND be able
to get a P.E. credit for college... not a bad trade-off. Ironically, my
dance partner in the class was my high school drama teacher, Ms. Leighton
(remember SMALL town). Ms. Leighton was not originally from our town, so she
was a little more liberal than most. Thankfully I liked her, and thought she
was cool, so we got along fine as fellow students rather than student and
teacher. Come to think of it, it was the first time socializing with a
teacher outside of school... weird.
My senior prom rolled up the next year, and I was ready to roll. However I
dilly-dallied around and didn't ask anyone out (my class had 17 girls in
it... you do the math). I ended up asking Tina to the prom. Tina, was our
foreign exchange student from Germany that year and I also knew her from
church. She was a nice girl, but I found out she didn't know how to C&W
dance, so my lessons at the college were all for not. Although she did teach
me the box step... or something similar. I remember it clearly. Tina wore a
strapless red dress that accented her recent sunburn. It was a match made in
prom heaven.
SENIOR
PROM PICTURE (1993)
When I was in college in Kansas, I ended up going to prom again with a local
girl that I worked with at the DQ (Becky). That was a fun prom (and there
wasn't any C&W dancing), but it was very strange being a college guy at a
high school prom. Good thing I didn't analyze it or I would have missed out.
I think Becky liked me and wanted to date, but I had a thing for the boys
(even though I wasn't "out" yet). If I had been straight, I would have gone
for it. She was smart (went to law school eventually), and was pretty. I
wondered what has become of all my prom dates? Hmmmmmm....
SENIOR
PROM-2 PICTURE (1995)
Other Semi-formal and fun pitures...
FRESHMAN BANQUET (1994)
SOPHOMORE BANQUET (1995)
FRIEND PICTURE
(1992) - Just for fun
