Prom provides closure for teen’s senior year

BY

Blake Echt
Teen Columnist, The Friday Flyer

I went to Prom. That’s about it. My column ends here. No really, it’s been about a week and I’m still not over the fact that I actually went to my Senior Prom. This is a big deal because I remember distinctly telling everyone that I was never going to go to Prom and that it was a waste of time because I’m actually a 40-year-old man posing as a teenager.

So this time I summoned up all my resolve and understood that I definitely needed to make a stand and be young for once in my life; and so I went to Prom without a date. I’ll tell you right now that it was one of my better decisions in life – and let the picture tell you two things: I went to Prom with friends, and that I look fantastic in a tuxedo.

My Senior Prom began when I got a new hairstyle at the barber down the street the day of Prom; which worked well and I didn’t have to wait (as opposed to all the females with their week long appointments. Guys have it a lot easier, let me tell you that right now).

Getting home I got ready and put on the fancy tuxedo I rented from the tailor in the Towne Center, and let me tell you how impressive I looked in that tux. Let me tell you how fantastic I looked in that tuxedo! I was fantastic!

After taking some pictures, I went to pick up my friend Nicholas Weber, then to Tuscany Hills to pick up more friends, and finally got on the freeway to breakneck traffic! It was good though, because our ride was full of jokes and ice-breaking to the point where our confidence went through the roof.

By the time we got to our dinner spot, an all-you-can eat sushi and Chinese buffet (which sounds terrible on paper but really worked out well), we walked with a certain unified swagger that all the girls would run to. We took a couple pictures, went to eat, and ate a whole “British tonne” of food, surrounded by our closest friends.

Afterwards, we took a couple more pictures and headed to the event at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda.

So I’ll admit I wasn’t particularly impressed at first with Prom: not a lot of people, seemed a bit crowded and small, and the music seemed to be really off. The location was very pretty, of course; but there was a certain sense of mystery about the Nixon Library that didn’t come out until later in the night when the jazz band started playing.

Call me 40, but I was much more inclined to listen to the jazz band than the dance music the inside, which is why I hardly danced at all this Prom. Yep, I hardly danced because I just couldn’t quite get into it this time around. I actually spent more time talking to my friends, sitting down and making jokes, and consoling the few who were stood up by their dates.

I didn’t realize how social of a person I could be until, every time I turned around, I saw someone I knew that I could talk to, and then the ones I didn’t know who I got to know right then and there. Obviously I’m not popular enough to say I know everybody, but I was still good enough that I always had a friend on hand, including a teacher who is a very dear friend.

Finally, after much deliberation and suspense, the Prom Court King and Queen were announced. Coincidentally, all the males (Jay Nixon, Logan Gallagher and Nicholas Weber) were from Canyon Lake, and all the females (Sydnee Platner, Natalie Sleiman and Alexandra Aguayo) weren’t.

The drumroll began, and the atmosphere tensed up until they announced the King and Queen: Nicholas Weber and Natalie Sleiman! There was slow, awkward dancing, and then fast awkward dancing, and then the best song came up last and there was much fun to be had by all.

As it turned out, I took the Prom King to Prom; and (if you remember from another column I wrote) I took the Homecoming Queen to the Homecoming Game. Ironically, she was Nick’s sister, Anna Weber. Way to go guys! Apparently, I‘m a very important part of any big event.

So Prom isn’t as exciting to see on paper as it is to retell or to actually experience, but it’s definitely something that all seniors should go to. It wasn’t a romantic night for me. It wasn’t magical. I didn’t get down and boogie until the end. And after the dance we went to McDonald’s.

But it did give me a sense of closure for my senior year, that everything after this is going to be ending my last four years of schooling. It was beautiful and symbolic in its own sense, and it got me to really consider my life beyond high school: everything is going to be all right.