Prom. I always dreamed of going to prom. Poufy dresses, curly hair, sparkly make up, super cute date. I never dreamed it would be this different, or stressful. The second prom was over my sophomore year, I started freaking out. As I watched the upperclassmen’s pictures go up online I was excited and nervous at the same time. Would I get a date? Would I look good in one of those dresses? Legitimate teen concerns. Then summer came, I forgot about it. Nothing cures stress like running around a campground for two weeks. Once we went back to school, the stress came back. Girls were talking about their dresses in September! I told my self that I wasn’t going unless I had a date, quite a task for a girl who prides herself in being independent. While the date issue rolled on, other things came up.

First of all, the dress. There are so many to choose from, different cuts, colors, lengths, materials, it goes on and on. I literally poured over the websites for hours. I think one of the most heartbreaking things is when you think you’ve found “the dress” and then you look at the price tag. Knowing you’re on your own buying your prom “gear”, really changes the way you look at things. That $450 dress I wanted, not ever going to happen. Believe me, you can look at all the shoes, hairstyles and jewelry you want but when you’re on a budget you have to draw the line somewhere.

But these are all the “fun” issues. The things you don’t know about in middle school are the scary ones. I’ve always been petrified of getting in a car accident and going to prom does not ease those fears. If you stop and think about all the people who will be driving that night, you can’t help but worry. You give them the benefit of the doubt, but how many of those people do you think will be drinking after prom? Even Before? You can scare them with poems and fake crash scenes all you want, but it’s not going to stop them. True, I could be over-reacting but you can’t just pretend these issues don’t exist. You could be hit by your friend, a classmate, that boy you’ve never talked to. And let’s not forget about date rape, gang rape and drugs. All of those things mixed with alcohol and giddy girls are a recipe for disaster.

Now I’m not saying prom should be avoided, I think it’s a wonderful affair that I really want to go to. I also think that it is an important, and stressful, rite of passage. If we all take a deep breath and promise not to do anything too crazy, we can get through this. So, here’s to prom, dresses, dates, and good choices.