Prom?? Not here. But check out my grad.

The Stilleto Mom is hosting Prom-A-Palooza. I was so excited to have a good laugh that I couldn't resist joining in on the fun. Only we didn't have a prom. Just grad, short for graduation, which is what we were about to do that caused us to dress up in all this craziness. These are the professional portraits. This happened so long ago (all the way back to 1993) that we were still using film. Film which didn't rewind properly in the camera and then happened to get exposed before developing. End result: no pictures. Here I am in all my permed, teased and back-combed glory. Still with my natural hair colour, before the babies sucked the last of the blonde out of me. I have only one regret: what the heck is with the long gloves? I included both pics because the second still amuses me. The first is my natural smiling self and the second an attempt at not smiling. The serious graduate look which I never did perfect.

Here are all of the people that I went from Kindergarten through to Grade Twelve Graduation with. It may not look like a lot but keep in mind that my entire graduating class consisted of only thirty three people.
Here are all thirty three of us. I could probably name every single person in this photo, first, last and even some middle names. Not sure they would appreciate it though, so I'll let them remain anonymous for now. I am still in touch with a few of them and am hoping this will prompt a few "OMG!!!!" comments.

Prom dates were sort of a non issue in our class. There was no expectation of bringing a date. No need. We'd known each other since our preschool years. We came from a small community, some of our parents even went to school together. Our grad song was "A Whole New World" from the Disney Movie Aladdin. Classic. And a Dan Hill song that I fail to remember the name of. I was on the verge of adulthood and was excited and scared to be treated as such. I was confident about who I was. I didn't care much what other people thought of me, which was necessary since I didn't really belong in this small town. Them in their wranglers and boots, me in floral prints and tights. Them in 4H and hockey and softball, me in my various dance classes. But I loved it. Loved them. Love the memories that I carry with me still.