Like every girl her senior year of high school, I wanted to go to the Senior Prom. I didn’t date in high school, not that I didn’t have my fair share of school-girl crushes, of course I did! However, I was also involved in afterschool activities, had a part-time job and didn’t really hang out with the cool crowd. I’m sure too, that I lacked a certain amount of confidence and was pretty self-conscious about my weight.

All of my friends certainly had dates for the prom and I was actually prepared to go it alone if necessary. I’d worked up the courage to ask a really cute guy I worked with, only to be graciously turned down over the phone. After some creative thinking with my sisters and best friend, I decided to ask a friend who had graduated a year ahead of me. He was someone I’d kept in touch with, so I called and asked if he would go with me. “It’s about time you called”, was what I remember hearing him say after I’d blurted out my request. I’m sure I never told him that I’d asked someone else who’d said “no”, he seemed happy to be asked.

So, my mother made me a very pretty dress of dotted Swiss fabric, and my date and I enjoyed dinner at a friend’s house before the prom. We, along with three other couples, rode together in a limousine across the Newport bridge to Rosecliff mansion. I spent the better part of the evening dancing with everyone but my date and having pictures taken–again, with everyone but my date. I found out after the fact, and rightly so, that he was none too pleased with being left at a table for much of the evening. Not only that, but at some point in the evening I somehow had lost his car keys from my little handbag. We looked for quite some time in the dark and on the gravel driveway of the mansion; I’m not sure they were ever found.

We were dropped off at the end of the night at my house and I had to drive him home. We had some hot cocoa and nice chat. I said goodnight and headed home…well in advance of any curfew for the evening.

Today I’d like to thank the boy who took me to my senior prom, and if I never said it then, I’m really sorry for losing your keys!