Prom Time

Weber and I are slowly getting our act together for the wedding. Erin has a dress. That is the mot important thing according to our wedding planner – Erin. I have a dress. Erin helped me pick it out and we are both happy with it. I kind of remember what it looks like. I just need to be conscious of how many Hershey’s kisses I eat between now and the wedding. I don’t remember all the details of the dress, but I do remember that it fit. It needs to still do that in July. Brooke is never one to follow the lead of others. She said that she will have an “appropriate” dress in the “appropriate” color. I will trust her on this one. Now all we need to do is dress the groom.

A few weeks ago we walked in to a tux shop just to get some ideas. It was swarming with adolescents who wanted that perfect look for the senior prom. Girls clutching dresses in colors that no human being should ever wear were hoping for matching ties and vests for their terrified looking dates. Fortunately the tux shops are aware that some colors should just not be worn and politely suggested classic black to “compliment” their date’s dress. When the salesman approached us with the obligatory, “How may I help you?’, I jokingly said that we needed a tux for the prom. It was obvious that at that point this poor guy had no sense of humor left and we gave him the real scoop. He gave us the information that we needed and we told him that we would be back after prom season – at least with regard to tuxedos.

We are on the dress side of the prom season. When Erin went with me to select my wedding dress, she stole a few moments to look for a prom dress though she did not get one on that trip. She was good and gave me her almost undivided attention. A few weeks later, I promised her the same undivided attention in shopping for her prom dress that she gave me in shopping for my wedding gown. And as an added bonus, she got Weber’s fashion opinion as well. Such an adventure is the true test of a stepdad’s character! (And he passed with flying colors!) After several stores, many dresses, and a bit of pouting over lack of dresses in her size, the prom queen finally found the right dress in the right size.

After recovering from dress shopping, the prom queen was ready to take to the stores again to accessorize. She called me on my way home from school the other night and asked if I would meet her at the mall to help with finding shoes, jewelry and an evening bag. For Erin, finding shoes poses the exact opposite problem than finding a dress – too many choices. After about 45 minutes of trying on shoes, she made a selection. The dilemma here was not so much style, but the best shoe color to match her dress. She finally settled on black. Once that decision was made, the actual shoe selection took no time. Erin paid for her shoes and off we went to find jewelry.

Finding the perfect necklace and earrings to go with her dress was challenging. We needed something that was dressy enough but not so expensive that we would have to disown the kid if she lost it. Our first stop yielded not even any possibilities. Our next stop was a little more fruitful. We looked for several minutes and Erin found a few things that “would do” but it was clear that she was not seeing exactly what she wanted. On our last pass through the jewelry department, she spotted the perfect necklace and matching earrings in a glass case behind the counter. We all know that the jewelry in the glass case behind the counter is usually the expensive stuff. Seeing the disappointment on her face, Weber asked the sales woman to let us see it. She placed the necklace around Erin’s neck. This was the perfect necklace and it was not ridiculously expensive. Erin really wanted it. Once this was settled, the saleswoman ushered us over to the purse section where Erin debated over two bags. She finally made her choice. This time she chose the more expensive option. As we headed for cash register to check out, Erin reached for her wallet. Weber beat her to the punch. Erin had a surprised look on her face when he slid his card first – “But I got the more expensive purse!” With a smile on his face, Weber replied, “That’s OK. I want to get these things for you.” We all headed to the car happy that we had accomplished the afternoon’s task. On the way Weber got a big hug and a big thank you. I think he got bonus points on the “stepdad does prom” test.

When it comes time to pick out Weber’s tux for the wedding, I suspect that we will again engage Erin and her fashion sense. Surprisingly, at age 52 he has worn a tuxedo exactly one time in his life – last year when we went to a black tie affair together.

This was our first official public outing as a couple. We affectionately refer to this picture as our prom picture.


The senior prom is in two weeks. Stay tuned for Erin’s prom pictures.