Since it is prom season I thought I’d take a trip back in time to the first prom I went to and see what I can remember.

It was called a Sophomore Fling, I think. It was 1974 and I was going to Ygnacio Valley High School. I had gone to Mt. Diablo for my freshman year and then my mom had us move to an apartment that was smack dab on the border between Mt. Diablo and Ygnacio Valley. I didn’t have any close friends at Mt Diablo, no best friend, no boyfriend there. At Ygnacio Valley I had no friends but there was a boy. A boy from the roller rink that I had had a crush on for years and who finally noticed me. So I switched schools for one year, going back to Mt. Diablo for my junior and senior year and causing a few rumors (untrue) about why I was gone.

I don’t remember the dance (I’m sure all we did is hug each other while we went around in circles. Neither one of us was a fast dancing kind of person.) But I remember how it made me feel.

Kevin was driving by then and I am pretty sure he drove us to the dance but maybe not since the prom pic was taken in his parent’s living room. Or maybe he came and got me and took me over to his parent’s for the obligatory picture taking. He wore a deep green slacks and a green patterned sport coat (he had red hair and it was the perfect color on him). The dress, well, I don’t know if I fell in love with it and talked my mom into it or she or my grandmother just bought through the catalog. Looking back now I think maybe they bought it for me with the idea of covering as much of me up as possible. Which is really funny if you think about how I spent 7 days a week at the roller rink wearing stuff like this.

I don’t remember the music or the decorations or anything else about that dance except that it made me feel, for a little while, like a princess.

Your turn. What do you remember about your first dance?