THE PROPOSAL
April 28, 2011As mothers — we want to make it all perfect. And so when my daughter started looking at prom dresses before she had the date, well, I was a nervous nellie. What if she didn’t get asked? It wouldn’t be the end of the world, she could go with a group as they all seem to do today. But it’s her senior year. As a Mom you want everything to be just so. And yet with matters of the heart, you really don’t have any control. Ok, I suppose I could pay some boy to ask her, advertise on Facebook and offer $100 in I-tunes certificates for someone to be her escort. But that one aint gonna stay secret for long. That kind of subversive activity could go south pretty quick.
I’m just about to head to the airport with my little girl as I finish writing this. I’m taking her away with me for the weekend— just Mom and daughter. It’s my graduation present to her. She doesn’t need clothes or stuff or one more gadget. The girl who could be a little more forthcoming in the communications department is going to make some memories with her Mama. And I can’t wait.
So imagine my surprise today, while packing for what I hope will be a perfect four-day weekend, to get a phone call from my daughter’s girlfriend.
She wanted to drop off a letter that she has been helping a young Romeo polish. It’s an invitation to the prom. She need to come up with a ruse about why she would be dropping an envelope at the house for me.
But this Romeo doesn’t just want to give her the letter. He wants me to give it to the pilot to read on the plane. And he wants it all to happen before they take off so she can text him her answer.
Even my old, jaded 50-plus-year-old heart skipped a beat. Not only was my baby girl going to go to the prom, she was getting a “Fantasy island” proposal. Complete with da plane….. who says all these kids want to do is find friends with benefits?
“Is she going to be happy that this guy is asking her?” I said, displaying my ignorance at my daughter’s social life and inner workings.
“Oh yeah,” said her friend. And I smiled. A big, long wide, Cheshire cat smile. Don’t you remember the heart thumping sweetness and thrill of a boy you liked asking you to something. Well I do. I may be old, but I’m not senile. There are no words to accurately describe that kind of emotion. It’s all gut-feeling and tingling nerve endings and blushing capillaries.
So sometime in the next few hours, a little girl (who is now taller than me) will be smiling. And her Mom will be smiling too. Not just because she is happy. But because I am happy that I’m with her, that I get to be with her like this, like the days when she was little and she was all mine. And I’m so happy that she gets to be on the receiving end of a proposal from a boy who thought this out- who wanted to make it special for her. Thank you God up in heaven that YOU are still making boys like that for our little girls. Can you go into mass production please on that model number?
We’re only as happy as our happiest child—wasn’t that the famous Jackie O quote? Or maybe I got that backwards. In any case, I couldn’t have scripted this better. Just keep your fingers crossed it all goes right!
Reader Comments (5)
Lee, we're going through our own prom drama in my home, although it doesn't involve a proposal. I can't wait to hear the rest of the story. Enjoy each moment with your daughter. Mine, too, can be reticent. So I relish every moment and every conversation with her and can understand how much this getaway means to you.
So ... how did it go??? I just took a girls trip with my soon-to-graduate daughter (to Disneyland) and prom dress shopping in Dallas, combined with a visit to her college. Wonderful! Can't wait to hear the rest of your daughter's prom story. Since she is a quiet one, I'll bet she's thrilled you are blogging about it :)
Lee - Love your books + blog... now you've created a cliff hanger - how did it all turn out?
I've read both of your books and loved them. Five years ago I did the prom shopping, college intereview trip with my daughter. Loved every minute of it. She moved 3000 miles away to college. Graduated last year and we became closer. A mother/daughter bond is unbreakable.
Love, love reading your blog. Can't wait to continue with the cliff hanger.
I LOVED this. what a wonderful story.
May I tell you by daughter’s prom story. (She is now 40) Her group, couples and singles were going together. After a long search, she found “the dress” at Alice Underground, a second hand story across from the Museum for Natural History. I tell you, I think it was a dress my mother disgarded years before. On Saturday morning of the prom, she wakes up, announces that she is fat (which she is absolutely not) and that she cannot wear the dress and needs a new dress. I bite my tongue and we leave the house and visit absolutely store in Westchester county looking for a dress. She cannot find one she likes better and that night, goes to the prom in the first dress, which, of course, she looked lovely in, and which she decided was just right. Her wedding was easier.
Enjoy