Today was my baby sister's prom. I helped her get ready and styled her hair and look. I really wish I had these skills years ago but the age I grew up in was not the golden age of social media sharing and YouTube. Today, you can learn how to do almost anything on YouTube or by simply googling a tutorial. Hell, the age I grew up in, I barely wore makeup not only because my mom wouldn't let me wear it (because hello, oldest child gets most restrictions growing up) but because there was barely any available at the time. We also live in the revolution of makeup as well in this day in age. Back then, all you could find was pencil eyeliner, mascara and those rollerball lipglosses at the dollar store. White eye pencil on your waterline was all the rage at one point. Looking back, I have no idea why peope liked this look. I was guilty of it too.
I also had no idea how to use a curling iron or do anything with my hair other than tie it into ponytails. So basically I saved up money to get an updo done at a professional salon and my boyfriend's (now husband) sister did my makeup for me. Prom was really expensive. It still is, but with my skills and knowledge now, I could probably cut a lot of the costs in half. Especially since there are a lot of nice dresses on cheaper sites now too. There are still really expensive overpriced gowns but looking back, I don't think my prom dress was worth it. I loved it at the time but there are so many more beautiful, detailed, crystallized dresses now. I still like the color though. I loved the baby pink.
Funny thing, my baby sis also wore pink for her own prom - blush pink. And wanted flowers in her hair just like I did. Except I didn't have long hair at the time, nor was braids popular back then, especially for formal hair. Now it's a nicee, soft, romantic look in this day and age. She wanted a Rapunzel inspired look so I gave her a pull through braid combined with a fishtail braid. I curled it before I started to give her hair more volume and soften the look. It came out pretty well. We added some simple accessories to pull the look together, but still keep it more about her own natural beauty.
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Looking back at my own prom pictures, I like how colorful my group was. But I would've probably picked a different dress. But my options and resources were limited and I had to work with what I had. Today the internet is a great place to search for pretty much anything as long as you can dream it. You can get a dress made in your size or even order a custom one of a kind piece off Etsy. Even Forever 21 has a nice formal line and wide selection of appropriate evening wear.
Looking back, would I still go to prom knowing what I know now about this American tradition? Yes and no. Yes because I did enjoy the experience and felt like it was a bucket list thing for me to do and be a part of. I had a fun night with my friends all dressed up and snazzy. It was my first formal experience with the boy and I did enjoy it a lot just being with him, and then being able to spend all weekend with him. When you're a teenager, all you want is time alone with your boyfriend, especially when you have overprotective parents that don't let you do anything or even have friends over or even have friends, actually.
I say no because there were a few mishaps. Prom didn't go swimmingly smooth for me. There was a lot of drama between friends and I actually ended up losing a friend over a guy that weekend. It was a lot of aggravation and a stressful time for me during the last month of school losing what I thought was one of my best friends at the time. Looking back, I don't care anymore because we actually did try to be friends again years later in college and it just didn't work out. Over time, we simply grew apart and lost interest in each other in a mutual way. I'm not sad about this falling out, but the original fallout during prom was the more painful of lessons to learn.
I learned that not everyone has good intentions and not everyone knows how to balance the dynamics of relationships between friends and boyfriends. And not everyone will respect your wishes. It would later be a recurring theme throughout my life where the girls in my life were simply not mature enough to balance both guys and friends. I'll admit, I am very selfish when it comes to my time and I learned I am very selfish when it comes to wanting my friends to still make time for me even if they are in a relationship. Is this wrong? I don't like being dropped over a guy because I won't do that to someone else. But another friend also told me, my kind of friendship is very rare. I value friendship a lot more than most people and my loyalty is both my best trait and my downfall. And when it's betrayed, it affects me very deeply. When I love, I love hard. But when I hurt, I also hurt just as bad. No one likes to be let down and lose someone they cared about. But like everything, time heals all wounds and this too, shall pass. And it did. I can say today I'm no longer affected by this incident. I look at it now as a learning experience and how it was the stepping stone to making me a stronger person. I started learning after this and other betrayals that I needed to not give myself out so freely. In both a good and bad way, it helped mold me into a meaner but stronger person. I also stopped trying to want to be everyone's friend. I became more selective of who was deserving of my time.
I used to think that I would stay friends and in touch with the people I went to high school with. I don't know why I thought this way. I used to like everyone too. Now I hate everyone, lol. I don't talk to anyone from high school, except like 4 people and two of them were in my wedding and are my best friends still to this day.
High school is a funny thing too. I was known for being weird and out there because I dressed funny, and I wasn't very pretty or attractive, I'd say. I didn't break necks, that's for sure. I doubt boys thought about me. I was really weird compared to my peers. I didn't share a lot in common with most people. I had to actually hide my interests because what I liked was considered "lame."
But now is a different story. I'm constantly stalked by a lot of people - they think they slick but I see you constantly watching my stories even if you're not publicly "following" me on Insta. And it's been confirmed by other friends that some high school people stalk my online activities now, jealous of my glow up, especially girls that used to make fun of me because I liked to wear furry Spice Girl platform boots to class. Yeah bitch, I see you and your fake fan self trying to pretend to like Pokemon now and all the shit I always genuinely liked and nerded out about. Although I don't get these ghost stalkers. Some of them are guys with girlfriends or wives too. Sometimes I think of screenshotting their stalking activities and sending it to their others, lol. But I either haven't cared enough to get to this point or I haven't gotten bored enough with my time.
My baby sister is the last of us 5 kids to finish high school and the last of us to attend prom. It's funny because I was the only kid actually really excited and wanted to go to prom. And my mom actually wouldn't let me because she was scared of American culture and the dangers of letting her daughter out with white people. And I actually wasn't going to go but the boy actually stepped in and refused to let me miss out on prom. He didn't want to go to prom at all, don't get me wrong, most guys don't really want to attend this, they're just dragged there by their girlfriends, but he didn't want me to regret not going. And so he did something really sweet. He had money saved up to buy the new xBox 360 that was just released but instead put it towards buying me a prom dress. He even took me shopping, surprising me one day after school when we had a half day due to midterms. He asked his mom and sister to take us out that afternoon to find me a dress. This selfless act will always resonate with me and I will forever love him for it because it showed to me at a young age how much he really did care. He put in a lot of work and effort to help make prom happen. I ended up being the one in charge of the limo and prom group and it was the first time I had to handle a big group of personalities and it was seriously a lot of stress especially when it came to collecting money to make sure everyone paid for their spots, but the boy was there every step of the way to help me. He helped to book and arrange weekend plans post prom too, which was quite an experience as young kids learning how to book a hotel room and travel to NYC and navigate our way around. In these days, it's so easy for kids but back then, it was challenging to learn.
When it came time for my other siblings to go to prom, it was a different ordeal. My brother didn't even decide until legit two days before that he was going to go. I had to help him rent a tux last minute and my sister who was head of the AV club and working prom to film it for his senior class, threatened the vice principal that there'd be no prom footage for senior video if she wasn't allowed to have my brother come along with her. I guess this is where it started that she learned to be a bully, lol.
My twin sisters, I'm not sure they really wanted to go to prom, but one of them didn't. She wasn't crazy about wearing a dress or makeup or getting all glammed up. But I talked her into doing it to at least experience it and I'm glad she chose to in the end. Her dress was bought last minute too, lol. They both looked really nice and it was fun taking them dress shopping and putting together their looks.
All 5 kid in the family have now experienced prom, except that my mother has no idea that I went, lol. I mean, not like it's going to do me any harm now if she finds out. I'm grown and live on my own and I'm married so what's going to do now? But that entire weekend, I lied and said I was away upstate for a Student Government trip. I even forged a legit permission slip and everything. NO RAGRETS. Not even a single letter, lol.
