Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Prom Night 1968

(OMG--look! Behind Frank!  It's the little rocking chair again--the one I still have.  Am I being stalked by a child's rocking chair?  Is it haunted?  Ooooooooo.)

Moving on:  I did not date in high school.  But before you start feeling sorry for me, don't.  I was so busy taking care of and showing my horse that I just wouldn't have had time for dating. 

Yeah.  Right.

OK--so one Friday night my equally as unpopular girlfriend and I somehow got up the courage to go to a dance at St. Mary's College not too far from our home in Lafayette, CA.  St. Mary's was a small private men's college and had weekly mixers for their students.  We walked into the gym, took a seat in the bleachers, and waited for the male hordes to descend. 

Suffice it to say, descend they didn't, but after about 20 minutes a fairly nice looking guy walked up and said, "Wanna dance?"  After doing the required "looking around because you can't possibly be talking to me thing" I determined that he WAS talking to me and got up.  He said his name was Frank, he was a freshman there and I told him I was a senior at Acalanes in Lafayette.  Then we did the frug or the boogaloo or whatever we were doing back then--I remember it involved alot of waving arms and head bobbing and legs kicking this way and that.  If ever there was proof white people can't dance, just reference the 60's.

After the dance we exchanged phone numbers and--I AM NOT LYING SO HELP ME GOD--he actually called me the following week and asked me out!  We saw a movie, had some ice cream, and then he drove me home.  As I was starting to get out of the car, he leaned over and tried to kiss me!  Aaacckk!  Fish lips!  Virginity alert!!!  I ran in the house and slammed the door, nearly giving my father a heart attack as the door I slammed went through his office.  A few goddammit Christines later, I explained what had just happened and he calmed down, secure in the fact that his oldest daughter would live to see another virginal day.


Needless to say, I didn't hear from Frank again.  Well, until I decided I wanted to attend my senior ball and since I didn't know any better I actually listened to my mother when she said, "Why don't you call that nice boy Frank and ask him if he'd take you?"  Would you believe he said OK?  Maybe the fact that my father had agreed to foot the entire evening's expenses had something to do with it, or maybe he just didn't have anything better to do on a Friday night. 

Can you believe it?  I still have not only the photo of Frank and I heading out for the evening but the prom program, as well!  The prom committee went to alot of trouble wrapping blue satin around little pieces of cardboard and paper and then attaching a green tassel.

I don't recall what we did in Sausalito after the ball but I do know I remained a virgin until several years later.  I mean, hell, the guy might have been a virgin, too--back then it wasn't all that uncommon.  Whatever.  A month later, my family packed up and moved to Birmingham, AL so I'll never  know if anything would have come of this. 

I'm glad nothing did, because many years later I truly found the man of my dreams, my Mikey.

Footnote:  In a comment she made on my post about RuPaul's Drag Race (yay, Sonique is moving on to Episode 4), Miz Chicken surmised that I might actually BE a drag queen in a tattooed body.  From the looks of my hairdo in the above prom picture, she just might be right. 

Naw . . . no self-respecting drag queen would EVER wear an orchid wrist corsage.

14 comments:

  1. werent you just the belle of the ball! Im prestty sure my aunt went to prom in a dress much laike that 1969!

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  2. Sweet story! Sweet pic too--
    you guys were adorable.

    Love the priscilla curtains, BTW.

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  3. hahaha i love this story! Great pic and the beehive!

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  4. I Love the way you remember everything, I can barely remember last week.

    Your hair & dress are perfect. You look like Barbie and Ken:)

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  5. Hmmm! Drag queen? Wouldn't that just freak Frank out! Love the dress! That is my favorite color of blue but can't work it into my house with all of the purple, yellow and red!

    My prom date had a beard, mustache and long hair. Let's not discuss virginity!
    Anna

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  6. Awesome! I can't believe you still have all of that!

    I think I see the rocking chair moving in the background of that picture.

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  7. So weird but I found myself looking through old photos last night of my prom...my prom date turned out to play for "the other team" if you know what I mean. I discovered that years later. I love your hair...two words(5 cans)... Aqua Net!

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  8. Oh Christine, you sound like me. I was a door hugger. The minute the car came to a halt, I made a dash for my front door. I suppose that's why the phone wasn't ringing off the hook.

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  10. Let me start over, I goofed up the last one. The hair, the dress, the corsage, the fresh faced young man at your side---you look just like a gorgeous Barbie doll!!!

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  11. Hoo baby, you were stylin'!! What DID they call that up/down hairdo back then? I call it the Priscilla, because that's how she wore it when she first dated Elvis...

    I wonder if your "boyfriend" reads blogs...
    ___
    Barbara
    http://ifididnthaveasenseofhumor.blogspot.com

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  12. Agree--love your updo. I love the hairstyles of the sixties. You rocked that look! :D

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  13. LOL! You are so funny!

    Oh geez, you made me recall that fumbling sweaty first slow dance I had in Jr. High. What was his name?

    He was shorter than I was in my heels, and all we did was clutch and move in a little rocking circle. I just wanted a hole to open up and swallow my whole Jr High experience. It was painful I tell you, dreadfully painful.

    Thankfully, I have no photos of that monumental moment Ha ha ha ha....

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  14. You looked stunning Gogita! That blue is beautiful on you! Next time I'm there you better bust out all these old pictures! I just love looking at them! You are just fabulous! I love you!

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