Two proms down... two more to go?

Prom season is in full bloom at the Curmudgeon home this year. Some years are worse for allergies, too.

Younger Daughter has a prom at her all-girls school -- and she managed to snag invitations to proms at the two local all-boys schools as well. I've written about her plotting and planning over proms -- and about my own discomfort with the whole ritual -- here and here.

Now comes word that Younger Daughter has also been asked to the prom at the local co-ed Catholic high school. She claims to be torn about accepting, although Long Suffering Spouse thinks this hand-wringing is strictly play-acting for our benefit. The dilemma, as Younger Daughter claims to frame it is that, on the one hand, she has a number of girlfriends at that school that will not be at her own prom the following weekend -- but, on the other hand, she has to read at 7:00 a.m. Mass on the morning after... and she'd be going as the date of one her friend's back-up boyfriends.

You read that right: Back-up boyfriends. Apparently in today's world, kids don't need to wait until after a breakup for the next infatuation to develop because they already have someone warmed and ready in the bullpen to come in at a moment's notice.

Youngest Son recently attended a dance at his school as the escort for one of his friend's backup girlfriends. So this is a phenomenon that cuts across gender lines.

Yes, it was a lovely evening. After the dance, some in the group wanted to continue on to a restaurant. Others wanted to repair to someone's house for awhile before heading home. Youngest Son was in this latter camp. But Youngest Son's friend, the one with the backup girlfriend, wanted to go to the restaurant... so off the friend went with both girls, his own date and the backup previously escorted by Youngest Son. Apparently thinking it was the chivalrous thing to do, Youngest Son gave his about-to-be-ex-date money for pizza.

And, no, I don't understand any of this either.

So Younger Daughter has a chance to attend four proms, a record that would eclipse the family record (three) set by Middle Son in 2005. (For the record -- yours truly went to no proms and neither did Long Suffering Spouse. We claim to have survived this high school humiliation without injury -- but our children firmly believe otherwise.)

Younger Daughter worries, now, that, if she accepts the pending offer to provide an escort for her friend's backup boyfriend, she'll be "prommed out" by the time of her own prom the following week.

I know I'll be.