Tis the season to Prom

If you guys haven't noticed it is prom season. It's all over social media. Moms proudly posting photos of their beautiful children all dressed up and ready for the "best night of their life". And they are beautiful. Seriously. Teenage awkward years don't exist anymore. I remember prom. It was a big deal. I imagine if Facebook had been around in the 90s my mom and I would have been plastering so many pictures of me in my super sequined dress (that incidentally could double as battle armor) that the internet would be sick of me.

I think it's safe to say that prom pictures have changed a bit since the mid 90s. Have you seen them? I believe some are actually taken by professional photographers, you know, people that used to only photograph things like weddings and newborns. I'm amazed by this. We took our pictures with a 35 mm camera standing in front of someone's dad's Buick LeSabre. And the poses. Wedding quality stances in a grassy field at sunset gazing lovingly in each others eyes like they had just said "I Do." In reality they are probably on their first date and the most contact they have had is via text messages discussing color coordinating her dress and his converse sneakers. I even saw a close up of two sweet kids holding hands focusing on a diamond ring that was prominently placed on her left ring finger. You know, LIKE A WEDDING RING. Whoa. Let's all remember it's. a. dance. 

Allow me to point out another interesting prom addition-the Promposal. All I can say is good grief. As if asking a girl to the biggest night of her high school career wasn't difficult enough, now these poor teenage boys must preform a unique Pinterest inspired stunt (including posters and a song and possibly a flash mob) that if she accepts will be shared instantly on social media. Lord help these pimple faced little men with sweaty palms. I guess actually proposing to your wife will be breeze after this stress. Bless them all. I think I will have Walt start searching Pinterest now.

I hope the 2016 prom goers are having a blast. It will be a night they will always remember. I remember every detail of mine. And in the spirit of #TBT, I thought I would share this.

This is how we did Prom Photoshoots in 1994.
Lets take a minute to soak this in. There are some things we need to discuss.

First, of course, that dress. Purchased from the Mother of the Bride section at Goldsmiths.

I was 16... just a sophomore baby (thus the reason my dad only approved a MOB dress that covered as much of my skin as possible) and thrilled to be going to the Jr/Sr prom. Look at that smile. Never mind I had never spoken more than 3 words to my sweet date. Never mind I was tagging along with my older cousin and his friends who I barely knew and who were decidedly more popular than I was. And never mind I would never be able to find the nerve to form complete sentences and actually talk to anyone the entire night. I was going to prom and that is all that mattered.

Back to the dress. It was brown with copper leaves and shoulder pads. Why? My dad insisted the dress be modest. But who insisted it be ugly? Did I have no friends to help me?

All I can say is thank the Lord Mark Zuckerberg is younger than I am and therefore my teenage years were not lived out on Facebook. Im not sure I would have survived the knee length shiny copper ensemble.  Tragic.