Wednesday, May 07, 2008

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.

8 comments:

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

man, proms are expensive too! are they not the big deal they used to me? maybe??

smiles, bee
tyvc

Anonymous said...

I'm going to assume that Youngest Daughter needs a new dress for each of the proms she's attending...right?

Jeni said...

Boy! Talk about being confused with all this "Backup boy/girlfriend" stuff and the thought of dealing with one prom would have me "prommed out" for sure! I sure don't envy you and long-suffering spouse, of that much I am very sure though.

Lahdeedah said...

How?

I mean it.

How?

I HAD A boyfriend, and had to browbeat, intimidate, cry, sob, and break out the hysterics JUST to get him to go withme!

How does one score more than one prom invite?

Mother Jones RN said...

Silverneurotic asked an excellent question. How many dresses does your daughter want?

MJ

katherine. said...

laughing...my question too.

four proms...how many dresses?

Lawfrog said...

Good gosh, I had a tough enough time finding a date to one prom...and come to think of it, I went stag so I guess that didn't work out.

LOL!

Patti said...

How many dresses is that??
I also would like to know the answer

Like you and Long Suffering Spouse, I didn't attend my prom either.