Today I rediscovered all of our music channels on DirecTV. During the day, I like to have something on in the background, but I don’t like to have tv shows on all day. The music channels are the perfect solution. The music channel today is The 90s. It takes me right back. I’ve heard “Gettin’ Jiggy With It”, some Ace of Base, and pretty much every song I ever slow danced to in Junior High. I have missed a few Memory Lane Monday’s, so today I am going to share some dance memories with y’all.
The first happened in 1992. I was in the 7th grade and it was my very first dance. I believe it was a Christmas dance, but I could be worng about that. What I do remember is my black and white dress from Ross. I thought it was perfect, but as soon as I got to the dance I realized it was all wrong. This was a church-type dress, and a lot of the other girls were wearing semi-formal or formal dresses. Strike one. Then, no one asked me to dance. Strike two. Finally, while at the refreshment table I heard some of the upper classmen talking about spiking the punch. Strike three. I hysterically called my mom to pick me up, conviced I was going to be drunk because I had consumed three glasses of the punch. My mom was there for me in an instant, and just like that my first dance was over. No one had spiked the punch, but it took a lot for my mom to convince me that I wasn’t going to get drunk. You might think that I look back at this with embarassment, but honestly I don’t. Two things stand out to me-one, my mom was there for me at my most awkward time. She didn’t make me feel stupid or ugly, she just reasoned with me, told me how beautiful I was, and let me pour my 12 year old heart out. The second is just how innocent I was. Are kids in 7th grade that innocent anymore? I truly hope that my kids are. I hope they freak out at the thought of consuming alcohol. I hope they know they can turn to me at any time. I hope when my kids are 12, they still act like children. I don’t want them to grow up too fast.
Dance memory number two: Now it’s 1994 and I am a wise 8th grader. I danced my first slow dance that year with a guy named Jon West. I realized that dances were pretty fun and no one ever spiked the punch. I was involved in this social dance thing called Kaleidoscope. I think there were 4 dances that year and you had to be invited to go. I wore my first formal that year. I cannot find a picture of it anywere-they must be at my mom’s house. But it was orange, had humongous sleeves, and was slightly longer in the back than in the front, with lots and lots of layers in the skirt. I think it was my step-sister’s prom dress (Cindi? Do you remember this dress?) I really need to find a picture of it. Oh boy, it was a real beauty!
Prom 1997: I went to prom my Junior year of high school with my best guy friend, Derek (not husband Derek.) We had such a good time. We were just goofy and crazy the whole time. There was a bit of a dress catastrophe involving those stick on bra things. It was nothing a little medical tape couldn’t fix. When Derek came to pick me up, my mom had just finished vacuuming the house. We thought it would be so funny to pose with the vacuum cleaner. I love it. I still smile when I look at this picture.

Prom 1998: I asked now-husband Derek to the prom. We had an okay time, but it was just kind of awkward. We weren’t at a very good place in our relationship then. And it didn’t help any that his college friends made fun of him for going to a high school prom. But we went, and overall we had a good time. Obviously things worked out between us, despite the awkward prom.

I really wish I could find some good pictures of junior high dance days. Everybody loves a good, embarassing picture!