Prom

Let me just start out by saying I love proms! I love seeing the dresses. I love hearing the music, especially the slow songs. I love the excitement the kids have. It is so much fun. It was Friday and I had one of my students (who is completely blind) for the first time in a week ( i typically have her many hours a week but she was on a trip). She explained that her date had flaked on her and that even though she has already paid for the prom that she would not be going. Immediately the balls started rolling in my head. Would it be possible for me to take her and chaperon? Would I be able to pull it off when it was the next day in San Francisco? After my lesson I ran back to my office where one of the aides was sitting at her computer. I quickly mentioned what had happened and that I had the crazy idea that I should go and take her. The aide thought it was a fantastic idea and she quickly called to get the number of the person in charge of prom so I could get permission to get in and for free. I quickly texted a friend to beg him to come so I would not have to go alone. He was so open to the idea and totally willing to come along. I left a message with the woman in charge and my student left a message with her as well but by late afternoon we both had not heard anything. The outlook seemed grim and I could hear the disappointment in my student's voice. Finally about dinner time I got a call that I had permission to take her. A few phone calls later and I found out that they were not going to let me bring a friend for free. Well I said that I could not go then because we had already had plans and I did not want to be in SF alone. So they went ahead and OKed it. So Saturday rolls along. I am mad crazy tired from staying up way too late on Friday and then doing a million things for my family on Saturday. I ran to the flower shop to get my student a corsage. I picked up my friend and made it to the girl's home right on time believe it or not! We had an uneventful trip into the city, thank goodness, and got inside the dance. Let me just say that I was very disappointed by their prom. The kids paid a hundred bucks a ticket and it was so skimpy compared to what I remember with my own proms. It was a small venue with no theme or decorations. The dance floor was so small that I could not believe it was even a dance floor. The food was not even good and the desert I could not even eat. Then to top it off I learned a lot about how to raise my own child. I was shocked at the way the kids "danced." You all know I am not sheltered. I work at high schools and see and hear things daily and I just go on about my own business and try to avoid those things. But this was crazy! The music was not even normal music. It was the strange remix rap type techno stuff the whole time that all sounded the same. I am not sure how you would even dance to it. The kids were so disgusting all grinding on each other. I could not believe it. It was all of them too! I knew it would be like hat but not to the extent it was. Two other teachers came by and told us that this was actually tame. I have decided that Emma will be locked in her room until she is 40. Then the only real slow song they played all night was Boyz 2 Men. You all know how much I LOVE them so that was probably a highlight of my entire night beyond my good company. Ok the good news is that my student had a great time. She actually danced for I would say a good hour and a half. I made it till midnight which I kinda thought I would drop dead by then considering I only had a few hours of sleep the night before but no I was still going and even drove us home safely. We went back to Union City and then all the way back here. I want to say a great big HUGE thank you to my friend for coming with us and being so good to me and my student! He is such a good sport and I appreciate it so much. It was sooo beyond your call of friendship duty and I owe you big time! I am glad I got to experience prom again to see how it is. It was an interesting night and glad I could spend it with both my student and good friend. Even though prom itself was crazy I enjoyed it and was glad I could go see what it was all about. Mostly I just wanted my student to have a good time so mission accomplished. I will probably never get to go to another prom again so how lucky that I went to this one! I wish I could have gotten more pictures but there was really nobody to take them of us. I only have one of my student and I but very much regret not getting one with my date. Life goes on.