By the Company She Keeps

When I went to prom in high school, I went to prom and dinner. The end. The trend now is a day date, dinner, prom, and an activity afterward. Not that kind of activity. Get your mind out of the gutter.

I first learned of day dates before prom when I was pregnant with my first child. Our secretary at work was agitated at her son. The day date he had planned was hiring a limo to drive the group to Anaheim, California and spend the day at Disneyland, drive home then go to prom. That was my first exposure and I hated the idea. I hoped it would trend out by the time my children were prom age.

It's seventeen years later. It hasn't trended out. But here is how the day went:

Woke up to my 17 year old daughter kissing me goodbye. I don't know what time it was but she and the group of friends going to prom were starting their day date by going to the temple for baptisms for some of their ancestors. One of the group had already done family history work so they could use his family's names.

Scott took a couple of kids to a cousin's birthday party and I waited on-call at home. In the meantime, I took the chickens out and sprawled out on the grass. They pulled my hair. Why do I get such a kick out of these feathered friends?

Alyssa returned from the temple and changed into bike riding clothes. Her date had a tandem bike which is good. The first time they went bike riding Alyssa did a somersault into some shrubs. There was blood and a little gash on her leg (not her head, thank goodness) but mostly she hurt her pride. Tandem bike is a better idea for her. She tends toward accident prone. Anyway, then she left.

Hair appointment for updo was cutting it close. They dropped her off. I picked up the bouttoniere then brought the beauty home. She changed clothes again and I got to do her make up. In the meantime, her boyfriend date arrived. He was having a tuxedo malfunction. He was seriously bummed about taking his tux to be dry-cleaned then when picking it up, he was handed an old man's gray suit. Uh, not mine, he said. No tuxedo. His mother was out trying to track down a tux. I started calling mothers of sons who had tuxes and we secured a tux jacket. In walks my daughter while I'm on the phone. Despite his own angst of no tux, I says, "You look amazing."

True. She looked amazing. But what kind of selfless boy, amidst his own crisis takes the time to verbalize why his jaw is hanging on the floor?

I might as well add that this same daughter had a birthday party last weekend. The same group of friends that went to prom came to the party. I brought in pizzas and tried to look inconspicuous while I finished up some odd thing in the kitchen. Someone shushed me. They were going to bless the food.

Who are these teenagers?

I'd like to keep them around. They are a cut or two above what I expected after my first exposure to "Day Dates."

Sure beats Disneyland.