4 23, 1993
Most people never forget there High School Prom. A time of youth that is etched forever in the stone of their minds, or as the case may be, carved in their soft tissue with lots of salt and lemon juice being poured in afterwards. I guess in order for this whole story to make sense I should start back a bit further.
I got a letter in the mail. This in itself is not unusual, at the time I mailed quite a few people and got letters back all the time. The letter was from a girl named Kelly. She wrote about how much fun she had with me last time we were together and how much she wished that we were closer together and even invited me to her home coming dance. I read the letter again. Something wasn't right but I just couldn't place my finger on it. Could it be the way she put hearts on all her I's or the way she crossed her T's? Or maybe it was just the fact that I had no idea who this person was. I don't know any Kelly's. That was it. I was getting invited to a home coming dance by someone I didn't know. I had no idea what she looked like or how she knew me, but somehow she did. I wrote her back and apologized profusely for not being able to go to her home coming but I wouldn't be able to make it because I was expecting premature hair loss.
A few days later I get another letter from her. She understood that I wouldn't be able to go but she talked more of the time we spent together. With this little information I was finally able to figure out where she knew me from. Apparently I had gone to a youth camp that she was at about a year before. I'm a nice guy, I make it a point to introduce myself to everyone by picking the loners for my teams and generally making them feel like part of the group. Apparently I'd made a bigger impression on her than I thought I had. Now if only I could remember what she looked like. She continued to write over the next few months and then it came. She asked me to the prom. I wasn't exactly interested in her, she was nice in a stalker sort of way but I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to hurt her feelings and it wasn't as if I had anything better to do. As a matter of fact, the day after her prom I would be down in the area anyway because I had a part in a musical that would be performing down there. On top of that my best friend Matt was going with another friend, Luella to the same prom and we would be staying at Luella's house so I would at least have someone I knew to hang out with, how could I say no? For future reference to generations to come, saying no is pretty easy. Anytime you ask yourself 'How can I say no?' it's a good sign that your time could be spent better by reading a dictionary than by doing whatever your talking your self into. I highly recommend reading a dictionary as an excuse for saying no. In any case, I still didn't know her but she said that she would be coming to one of the youth camps I was going to and that we could hang out there and get to know each other. I said I would go to the prom with her.
It's always darkest before the prom... or in this case, at the youth camp. Early on I began to dread actually meeting her, particularly at the camp because camp was the one time I actually got to hang out with my one true love (of the moment) Ellen. It would be awkward to have both of them around but I'd kind of dug myself into a hole and now I had to deal with it. I dealt with it pretty poorly. I spent most of my time with Ellen and the time I did spend with Kelly I learned a few things. First of all we had absolutely nothing in common. We didn't enjoy the same sports, the same music, the same anything. Of course the thing that set us apart the most is that she had fallen in love with me and I fell in love with Ellen. It's not that I didn't like her, but all the time I spent with her I was wishing I were spending it with Ellen instead. I had a miserable time.
The day of the prom was at hand, the nightmare began. We ended up in Wiley (don't drink the water), Colorado a town of approximately 100 people if you count the neighboring Lamar, Colorado which is where the high school was. I just kept telling myself 'You won't be alone, you have two of your best friends with you' We picked up Kelly and headed out to the prom where the had a banquet first. With assigned seating. With me and Kelly at one side of the room and Matt and Luella at the other side. Ok. I can cope. It's only for a little while. We sit down and begin to chat with some of the other people at our table only to find that they all knew me. Not like 'Oh, Kelly mentioned you once'. Apparently Kelly had told them everything about me that she knew and then some. They all knew with greater detail than I how we first met, and how I swept her off her feet. They all knew that I had long hair which I'd cut for the musical. They were all sorry that I wasn't able to make it to the home coming dance because I was expecting premature hair loss. I'm a shy person generally and this was the absolute worst thing that could happen to me... at least so I thought until after dinner for the dance. They played two types of songs, slow dance, and country. I'm not sure which was worse. On top of that Matt and Luella, my personal shields and protectors, kept disappearing.
I thanked God when it was finally over. We went back to Luella's house where we had some pictures taken and I suddenly came down with a case of Narcolepsy. I was up early the next morning to make it to the musical which Kelly and her parents would be going to with me, as they were going to drive me up to Pueblo for it. You ever get in your car and get stuck behind those people who constantly drive under the speed limit? It's even worse when your stuck in the back seat knowing that you will never be able to pass these people up. In town they drove 5 miles under the speed limit and stopped for every yellow light. On the highways they drove 40 mph. The whole way. I finally escaped after a hug goodbye.
She continued to write me for a while, long enough to invite me to one more prom. Fortunately I had an excuse not to go, Ellen had asked me to her prom also. Granted they were actually a few weeks apart, and due to a misunderstanding I didn't actually go, but why let a technicality spoil a perfectly good excuse.