A senior prom on the prairie

Hunter attended his fourth and final prom, his senior prom. Proms on the North Dakota prairie are simpler and smaller than larger towns and cities. There are not expensive restaurant reservations to book. There are not limousines to rent cruising around our small town. The grand march, dance and post-prom party are all held in the school gymnasiums. No pictures at the local country club which I have heard about from my city girlfriends and their children. 

But proms are still regal on the prairie. Kids wear their best attire or rent it and look stunning. At least, mamas think so as their kids walk through the prom grand march.Hunter’s girlfriend, Paige, was on a class trip and flew home a day early to attend the prom with him. She goes to a different area high school and he attended her senior prom a couple of weeks ago. Last year they attended one another’s proms also. As Hunter said, “I went to four high school proms, all with the same date.” He’s loyal and so is she.

Paige and Hunter met in the seventh or eighth grade, sitting by each other at the regional science fair. They developed a friendship long before there were any high school dates. Here are a few captures at our house ahead of the home-cooked supper of chicken and dumplings they had with all 39 prom couples. 
“Do we have to take pictures, Mom?” “How should we stand?” “Tell a joke.” “I don’t know any jokes.”
Prom on the prairie was not surprisingly, windy. Paige was surviving on a few hours of sleep from her class trip to a New York airport to Bismarck and 100 miles down to our prairie town. She’s a ranch girl who never complained.
The blush pink and gray combination is one of my favorites. It was cool in the 1980’s when I got my 10 speed pink and gray Huffy bike. Now it’s cool and fashionable for proms. But it still reminds me of my favorite childhood bike!
This pillar pictures represents that Nathan and his dad got a new patio built before graduation! And it’s a great picture spot too.

And one more time…my favorite picture from the elegant evening.

The next time we have a prom on the prairie, it won’t be as easy as a boy renting a tuxedo and ordering a corsage. It will be girls and dresses! Anika and Elizabeth at ages six and eight are already plotting and planning. I can wait.