“It would’ve been a fairy tale if my date hadn’t been the only one at the prom with a wife & 2 kids”

Joelle said in the early morning on February 22, 2008

I’m not sure how I found fellow San Diegan Bookgirl’s blog, but I appropriated this meme from her.  I’ll do a meme once in a while, if I’ve got a lot on my mind and need to shake something loose.  But since I know I tend to get descriptive and tangent-y (who, me?), I’ve decided to break it into a series.  So, I bring you the first of 25 First Things About Me.  I realize you’re on the edge of your seat, but sit back. You might hurt yourself. 

1. Who was your FIRST prom date?
Nick Garbanzo.  That’s not really his last name, but he’s Italian and I don’t need him strolling in from Google to read about how I so didn’t want to be his date. Sorry, Nick.  Honestly, I couldn’t tell if he wanted to be my date either, but it was his prom, he did ask and he was sweating the whole night, so I can only assume he chose me.  (He also bought me a leather skirt for my birthday 6 months earlier and had the DJ dedicate the song “Summer Girls” by Dino to me… something I still can’t really figure out.  A leather skirt… I was sixteen!  Anyway...) See, we were not only neighbors, but his parents were my parents’ accountants. It was one of those deals. 

Stepmom: Joelle, why don’t you go to the Prom with that nice Garbanzo boy?”

Me: “Do I have to?”

Stepmom: “Well, his mother said that he wanted to ask you, but he’s afraid you’ll say no.”

And I suppose I would have, but hey, I wanted to go to the Prom! (I’ll admit to not looking beyond this very superficial reason for going out with this kid, but my brain was full of Aqua Net. Cut me some slack.)

So, one casual dinner date at a local Mexican restaurant later to discuss who was wearing what to pick up whom when, Nick had a prom date.  Plus, he was a nice guy and I didn’t dislike him, I just wasn’t interested in kissing him. I was concerned with it being Prom Night and all that it might get a little awkward, but it was probably the most gentlemanly prom ever.  I wore pink.  He picked me up in a white limo. We had moderately-priced fish and Shirley Temples and off to the prom we went where we actually danced. And save for that one slightly tense moment during a slow dance to Will to Power’s “I’m Not in Love”, the evening was perfectly chaste.  haha. I can’t believe I remember that…

We went to the La Jolla Firehouse for the school-sponsored “after-Prom” when most kids went to private parties or hotel rooms and I was even home before dawn.  I think perhaps our fathers had something to do with that, but I didn’t mind.  It took the pressure off of worrying that he was going to make a move… I had a feeling we had an inside man (read: the limo driver) who, for the low, low price of a parentally-palmed $100 bill, was more than eager to make a call if things started getting untoward.

As wholesome as it all was, I’m rather glad now that Nick was my first Prom date. A month later I went to my own Junior Prom at a Christian school in the same dress with a different boy (one of the few my father approved of based almost solely on the facts that he wore wingtips and liked Sinatra).  And after dinner, I had my first wine coolers, made out with him for 3 hours (second base, people! I was a good girl!), got a grease stain from his dirty ol’ car on my dress, missed half the after-party and got home so late my Dad looked like his head was going to pop right off his body and bounce off the ceiling.

But hey, that was fun, too…