Prom Time
Its spring time! Flowers are blooming. Pollen is in the air. The Braves have begun a new campaign and it’s prom time for our local high school students.
Piedmont Academy will have its prom this Saturday and Jasper County High School follows the next weekend.
The prom is one of those rites of passage moments for our children as they all too quickly move into adulthood.
I am sure the girls will be dazzling in their formal dresses as for one evening they are all transformed into princesses.
The guys will also be dapper in their tuxedos. Our local florists will do their part. More than a few pictures will be taken. A few couples may hire a limo for the evening. Teen-agers being teen-agers, I am sure there will be a little drama as well.
I recall a little over 30 years ago my first experience with a prom. It was held at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Macon. The theme was “Come Sail Away.”
We juniors gathered that morning at the Hilton to decorate. The guys basically moved furniture and hung things on the wall where the girls told us to hang things. This later proved to be good training for marriage.
We all returned home and prepared for the evening. I dressed in my tuxedo, heard my Dad make some snide remarks, heard my mother’s usual admonishments and went to pick up my date. We swapped flowers and then stood in front of the mantle in her living room while her mother took pictures and we were on our way.
We went to the prom and did all the prom things. We danced. At least she did, I sort of flopped around like a bass trying to get off of a hook.
At midnight we ate the breakfast buffet the Hilton provided and I had my date safely home in time to meet her parent’s firm curfew. I will have to say it was a great evening and I still remember it fondly.
Prom should be one of those magical evenings on which memories are made. I pray that for all of our young people those memories will be good ones. There is one requirement to make all prom memories good and that is that our young people will make good choices.
The truth is that as magical as prom night can be, it is also fraught with danger. I need not list all the dangers that lurk on prom night.
What I will say to our young people is that the bad choices of one moment can have a lifetime of consequences and can even be deadly.
To our young people I say may prom night be your night of magical memories that last a lifetime and may those memories be grounded in your good choices.