This adorable homecoming couple was kind of my fault. Calvin originally said he was going to to to the homecoming dance with a group of friends so I asked a few probing questions: A group of guys or are guys and girls going together? Do you want to take a date? Do most people take a date? I wasn’t encouraging him to get a date, I was just wondering what was going on in his head and making sure he felt free to invite someone if he wanted to.
Maybe he was waiting for permission because a few days later he said, “Mom, is it OK if I take a date to homecoming? Because I was talking to a girl at youth group and I told her about homecoming and she said her school doesn’t have one so I asked her if she would like to go with me. She already asked her parents and they said it was OK, so is it OK?”
Whoa there! My kid went from awkward teenage boy going to a dance with a group of guys to Rico Suave in the span of 30 seconds. I had a moment of internal panic and then smiled and said, “Sure! Good for you! I’m happy you’re a braver kid than I was in High School.”
Bringing a date upped the ante so the first step was finding Calvin something to wear. Josh handled that part and took Calvin to the tailor to have a sport coat, dress shirt and pants made. Then we found the tie, belt and ordered the corsage. Oh and shoes. Can’t forget shoes.
The day of the dance Camille and I picked up the corsage while Calvin was at school and she treated it like Cinderella’s glass slipper as we walked home. With shining eyes she asked, “Since Calvin is going on a date, that means he’ll be married, right?” Not quite yet, sweetie. We have a few more years until then, hopefully.
All dressed for the big night! I was dreading doing this by myself (Josh was gone on an exercise on the south side of the island) because his date lived somewhere 30 minutes south of us, Carter had a Christmas party on the west side of the island at at the same time as the dance, and Camille and Caleb were going to have to tag along for the ride. Not how I would want to set out for my first date.
Anyway, God worked out all those worrisome details because a friend coordinated transportation for Carter and Josh asked for the evening off so he could spend the evening with me. He arrived home about 30 minutes before we left to pick up Calvin’s date. Perfect timing!
As for the littles? We left them at home with all the TV they wanted to watch, a cell phone, and instructions not to eat anything. And a bit of bribery. We told Caleb we’d pay him for being a good babysitter and that Camille would get paid for being a good babysittee.
We picked up Calvin’s date and her mom pinned the corsage on Calvin
And Calvin tied the corsage on his date’s wrist
adorable!
We dropped them off at the hotel (on the far east side of the island — if Josh hadn’t been along it would have been a very long night of driving by myself!) and we went to dinner while they went to the dance.
They all had a great time
and we had a great night!
You know the legendary Friday brunches? This hotel also has one on Thursday night. We had about 3 hours to eat, drink, and be merry.
Dinner by the light of the Christmas tree. Our first “first date” went perfectly.