Terrie's Ramblings: Proms............Mom and All

I was watching Midday (Ch. 4) at noon when a lady from Opryland Hotel came on to tell about their weekend special coming up Mother's Day. They are having a "Mom Prom" for mothers and sons. Now this is mainly for families with children up to 12 years old. Can you see Kyle or Clay taking me to a "Mom Prom" at age 11 or 12? I could see John making them do it for my sake but being so embarrassed they would NEVER get out on the dance floor with me, much less acknowledge they were mine! Besides, would I want to put myself through trying to fit into a "prom" dress? I think not. Today's dresses show way too much skin. And I had/have A LOT more skin then/now than I did in high school which is NOT (to borrow from Martha Stewart) a "good thing." I didn't want to show my skin in high school and I certainly wouldn't do it now, accept for the fact it would totally embarrass my kids which sometimes is worth the risk! Can you see me in a backless, strapless, sequined number? I would have back fat, front fat, arm fat, belly fat spilling out all over the place. Instead of people saying, "doesn't she look sweet", they would be saying, "those poor boys, they should get their mom a full body Spanx for Mother's Day!" Opryland Hotel will also be adding to the experience by having corsages for you to buy for the mother and boutonnieres for the sons. Yeah, all I need is a wrist corsage to bring more attention to the arm fat! And forget about the dance floor............no way Jose!! I would not have gotten on the dance floor to "shake what the good Lord gave me" because it would take a minute or two for it to stop shaking after I stopped dancing. I can see now how it might have traumatized my boys. So much so, they might not have attended their prom, excuse me, their banquet because of the memories they might have. I couldn't put them through that. :-)

I do have to say though, that my prom experiences were great! Of course that was years and years ago. I was fortunate to attend 3 proms...................all with John. The first one was his senior year at Donelson. I was a sophomore at Two Rivers, the rival high school, and we had been dating a few months. I was so excited to be going to the prom as a sophomore dating a senior. I thought I had finally arrived, so I had to look fabulous! Never mind the fact that I had braces, was a sophomore from Two Rivers and John's friends didn't really like me in the first place. You see, John broke up with another girl (a SENIOR at Donelson) to date me. Yeah, his friends thought he was crazy, but I had his senior ring................in your face J. H.!! (Was that too harsh?) Anyway, my mother made my dress, which was very beautiful. It was a pale pink dress with an overlay of white eyelet, high neckline and short eyelet sleeves. My hair was long which I rolled on big rollers (think juice can size) and sat under the "helmet" dryer (mine was blue) to set what little curl I would get. Then I rolled my side curls with pink foam rollers. After it was combed out, I set my hair, especially my side curls, with enough "AquaNet" to take down multiple ozone layers! The more, the better. My side curls didn't move all night. I was sooo proud! I held my hair back with a pale pink ribbon. My prom dress was complimented by white wrist length gloves (very proper) and the daisy bouquet with pink ribbons that John gave me. Bouquets were the "IN" thing in the 70's for prom. Although you had to find a place to lay them down when you danced. John wore a black double-breasted tux, white shirt with black trimmed ruffles and black bowtie. I gave him a boutonniere of a white carnation tipped in black to match his tux shirt. Very cute!! The theme of the 1970 Donelson Prom was "Springtime in the South" which my dress was perfect for. The evening was fun and unforgetable. I remember when we got our pictures back. I thought my arms looked fat and the dress made my hips look big and I had the "metal mouth" look. Today, looking at that picture, I can't believe I was ever that young, that skinny, my hair was that shiny or my face that smooth. But I do remember feeling like Scarlett O'Hara coming straight from Tara, minus the curtain tassles! I'll never forget my first prom experience with my future husband. (Take that, all John's friends who said it would "never last!")