A.H.'s Prom Story

My prom was at Red Bluff High School in 1989. I went with my senior year boyfriend (who I actually continued to date after high school for about 4 years). My dress was strapless silver and white, fitted along the bodice and then ruffles at the bottom. He had a white tux and I think a silver tie and cummerbund.

My date, J.P., was on the high school baseball team and they were in the playoffs that year. Unfortunately, their playoff game was in Redding the same day as prom, and I think they went into overtime. I don't remember if they won or not. Anyway, by the time he got to Red Bluff, got dressed, we did the whole family taking pictures gig, and went back up to Redding for dinner, we didn't have time to eat at a real restaurant. So we went to Burger King drive thru and ate in his truck at the Kmart parking lot. He had a black/dark grey Chevy Silverado step side. Those were cool then. I remember feeling really disappointed about dinner, but what could I do?

So prom was at the Elks Lodge in Red Bluff. Ehorns took the photos. I remember we danced a little bit, but not as much as I wanted. J.P. was in a different social clique than I was, so I was not friends with or even that comfortable around the girls that came to prom with his friends. So I just kind of hung out by myself and with my date when he wasn't with his buddies.

Afterwards, we were supposed to go to someone's house for a party. Somehow we had a bottle of vodka in the truck (I don't remember how it got there), and as we were driving to the party, we were pulled over by a cop. Since my dress was so puffy at the bottom, I pretty much sat on the bottle of vodka, trying to cover it with my dress while the officer talked to my boyfriend. The officer never saw the vodka and we were on our way. By that time though, it was late, we were relieved we didn't get caught, and just skipped the party and went back to his house. I stayed the night at his house (yes, his parents were there and my parents knew), but nothing freaky happened.

So my overall memories of my prom are that it wasn't great, but it wasn't all that bad either. At least I had a date that I really liked and I had fun getting dressed up and going. But it wasn't a life changing event either.

A.H., Prom 1989