Memory Lane... grad edition

I was reading about Leah's prom experience and totally travelled down memory lane with her as I read her words so here is my (not so shiny) memory of my prom experience. Prom is now "grad", by the way.

We didn't do a whole lot of the "asking to dances" business at my school. Usually we all just showed up and if the person we likes was there, then, great. I had a boyfriend in high school. In my previous post where I reminisced about high school by posting a journal segment, you might have caught a glimpse into the high school me. Pretty much, to sum me up, I had a rather large crush on one guy in particular. We'll call him Alphabet, because that's what my oh-so-creative nickname was for him in high school and it allowed me to talk about him publicly without fear of repercussions. Anyhow, so Alphabet was my crush and I am kind of sad to say, now, that I spent a great number of hours worrying about him and what he thought of me and whether or not we would be together. I just need to insert something here to state that I am not at all bitter about the end of our "relationship" and actually I am glad that I have had that experience because I feel like it has strengthened a lot of other relationships in my life. Anyhow, continuing...So, yeah, many hours and un-admittable journal entries were devoted to this young man and how much I thought he was the greatest thing ever.

We ended up, after much pursuing on my part, becoming boyfriend-girlfriend and dated for about eight months, I think. It was a high school thing which quickly ended once high school ended. But, to the point of this story, there wasn't a lot of asking to dances and I was the pursuing type of girl. So, we were out for a bike ride one day (with my wonderful little brother) and someone got a flat tire. While my brother returned home (nearby) to get repair materials, I asked him to take me to grad. I'm pretty much something like "so, are we going to go to grad together, or what?" I'm also pretty sure that he was mad I had asked because that was "his job." Well, I think that it was early May and the date was in June, so.. whatever buddy.

So, we went together. We each got our clothing (separately) and he picked up a corsage (pink, my dress was purple) and I got the boutonniere. We arranged to share a limo with some good friends of ours.

Day arrives... I met him in the morning to shop for grad gifts (I gave him a knife, he gave me a ring- yeah, I thought we were "forever" in my own little way). Then I had my hair done and my toes painted by my little sister under the hairdresser table (love you, sis). Once that was done, we were at crunch time to limo arrival. Rushed home, rushed the gear on and out the door to my friends who were just arriving. Pictures and flower-exchanging ensued, then we drove off to gather the rest of our group. *note, I have tried to cut out any other faces, because I don't have their permission to put their faces on my blog *

I remember going through drive-thru at McD's in the limo and ordering out of the sunroof, but that's my only memory in the limo. We arrived at the Colombo Lodge and sat around oohing and ahhhing over all of our friends' outfits and how spiffy we all looked. A lot of pictures were taken. Apparently there were three of us (A, R and me) with the same taste in uncomfortable shoes!

We were presented to the group of parents and siblings and had our grand march, where my escort (not my date) completely squashed my corsage. And, no, the ring on my left hand here is not the one from my date, but from my parents... in case you were looking that closely.At grad, we danced a lot. The shoes came off very quickly because I am not a high heel girl. I remember dancing with my girlfriends, having a great time (eating a good dinner at the table with my family and Alphabet's family) and dancing a couple times with Alphabet, too. I know we did because there are pictures of us dancing together. At the dry grad events that followed I remember being mostly grumpy that I wasn't the sole attention of my date. This relates back to the attitude I have of wondering and wishing when it came to this young man before our "relationship". He was entertaining a visiting attendee, the friend of a friend. I was jealous and pretty much grumped around the entire evening. Good times, eh? I missed out on a lot more fun that could have been had, I think. Too bad for me.

All in all, I suppose that had I never had a high school boyfriend my life would have been a lot different when I was actually in high school. I'm not so sure that it would have been a lot worse... just different. I can't go back and change those things, though, so I just deal with my memories the way they are and forget a lot of stuff, too. I suppose when a young "relationship" ends the good parts kind of fade away to help us feel better about the ending. Any opinions on this one?