Well parents it is here, prom season is upon us. Get ready to facilitate by any means possible whatever it takes to make this magical life changing night be one they will never forget.

Wait, what? Magical? Life changing? Ummm…Now I know it’s been a minute or two since my prom, cough, twenty years, cough, but I can still recall that night. I remember my prom being fun, but definitely not monumental in the grand scheme of my futures outcome. Yes, I am aware there are the rare cases in which life altering decisions and occurrences happened, but I am not speaking about those.

I am going to use my son as an example. I gave birth to him and feed him regularly so I feel it is my right to exploit him by writing about his various experiences to entertain. Please hold your concerns; he did come from my gene pool and he was blessed with my questionable sense of humor so he dishes back what I serve out. It’s a healthy relationship and I will continue to proclaim that until a therapist tells me otherwise. With that disclaimer out of the way let us get back to the point.

My son is a junior at the local high school. He has been dating the same sweet girl for over two years; she decided to ask him to prom. Did you catch that? Kids today ask their boyfriend or girlfriend to the big social events. Thanks to the internet and cell phone videos, prom goers everywhere are coming up with creative ways to acquire a date to the big night even if they have been dating for an extended amount of time. These big elaborate schemes are called “Promposals”. Seriously. Youtube it.

Here was the plan for the “promposal”. Girlfriend would drop my son off at our house after dinner with her family. She would then drive around block giving him time to come in and talk then head to his room. Girlfriend would then knock on my son’s window and when he looked outside there she would be standing with a poster that read, “PROM?” in glow in the dark paint. In theory this was very romantic and one to surely be written about and posted for future promposal idea seekers.

It failed.

Not miserably. Oh it was sweet and thought out, but glow in the dark paint needs to sit in light in order to glow. To keep the sign incognito while my son was in the car, girlfriend opted to turn it over in the dark on the ride over. At the time of question asking, girlfriend was left standing in the front yard holding a sign he couldn’t see, while he stood in his room completely confused. Girlfriend succumbed to defeat finally and just yelled for my son to come outside. He said yes anyway.

Prom night has come and gone. The night was perfect and all went as planned. Okay that is a lie. The night was actually full of last minute schedule changes, a stressed mommy, and poorly timed storm of the decade. As I arrived to pick them up from their downtown location my son and his girlfriend limped to the car with aching feet and the biggest smiles. On the drive home we happily traded stories of the adventures we all had. Them of the soaking wet couples walking through the doors where the girls retreated to the restroom only to return with their hundred dollar hair-do replaced by a wet ponytail, and me about driving through the hailstorm arriving home to a 12 inch pile of ice balls on our front porch. Ah, good times! Seriously, all stories were good.

My point is that for prom we tend to shell out a vast amount of money to make a fairy tale happen that was never meant to be. I am not saying don’t get the perfect dress, or send them to a nice dinner, but let’s remind our kids that even Cinderella ended her night in one shoe and sitting in a pile of pumpkin guts. Teach them to embrace those wet ponytails and laugh about their aching feet. In 20 years they will look back and remember it as the fairytale that wasn’t, and smile because it was even better.