|
Last Edit May 24, 1999
Crabby Monday
My
Son - and His Ice Cream
My
Son - and His Ice Cream - Deux
All Dressed Up - Cleans Up Well
My
Son - Ready to go dancing
The
Group - And The Long, Black, Stretch Limo
My son decided to go to his Senior Prom at the last minute. Of course.
Can't do anything ahead of time.
Management by Crisis.
That's OK. I excel at this by now.
He informed me that his friends had convinced him to go. So much for the camping trip to the beach (that I had already bought gear for). Told me it was his only chance.
Oh, I agree.
Great idea.
So he whipped out his checkbook and bought his own tickets. ($100.00) They come in pairs. And if you've read some of my stories, you know he then proceeded to troll for a date.
I let things ride a bit, until it was obvious that he was a. Going and b. Unorganized.
The child informed me that, with regards to transportation, they would get someone to drive. I offered van transport by Mom.
They offered one of their classmates.
Wrong.
So Momma stepped in and offered to find.....
A limo.
At the last minute.
Well, the last week.
Do you have any idea?
Yahoo!
The search engine, not the scream.
Three calls in, I got a car. Big, black, stretch, seats eight.
We had ascertained that eight was the group size.
Ready for this?
$5-600.00 for the night - 6PM to 2AM.
Wow!
The kids could not afford this.
I can. Not often, mind you, but this once.
It is worth it for my piece of mind.
No kids should drive to a prom.
Ever.
The car company and I agreed - no booze in the limo. Soft drinks OK. Kids get picked up at the high school - taken home to their respective houses.
Took a week to get the addresses out of my son.
Two days before the prom, I e-mailed and faxed them to the car company. And called them.
Just to be safe.
In the meantime,.....
I found a tux for my large child (6'2", 225lbs.). He had ordered flowers for the girl - yes, he found one. A girl.
Someone at work pointed out to me - Hey, you are paying for the car from 6PM to 2AM - there's a few hours of downtime there. Use it!
So, I called my older son and made a date. He and I would cruise San Francisco by limo during the time the group was at the prom. We'd have the wine. The car was to come with two bottles. He even offered to dress up.
Good thinking. The limo I had for the date with Fabio sat in the alley for four hours! I guess the drivers carry paperbacks etc. For the boredom time.
The week-end come-ith. Friday night we tried on the tux (it fit) - the boy does clean up well.
Last minute - my younger son and I both had our hair done. He had a haircut. I got mine blown-out - with 6 tons of mousse. Can't mess that do!
The group had decided to go to the mall at 3PM on prom night - to get photos taken. I rebelled. The limo is coming to the school at 6PM. How are you getting from mall to school (over the freeway overpass no less). Have you thought about roaming in the mall in prom dresses? They decided to skip that. They decided this Saturday morning.
Just a bit of hysteria.
He shaved, bathed, and poked around while Momma ran errands, picking up a single rose, the flowers he had ordered, a stray carnation (for his lapel - backup). I also cleaned out the van and installed new seat covers. I duck-taped any rough plastic edges (the car is showing some wear). I installed new carpet. I hosed down the cars. My truck and the van. Ready.
I dressed, my new black skirt - slit, tank top, and jacket, new heels. My new antique silver-amethyst jewelry (Italian, hand-made, expensive, goes with my as-yet unsewn dress for the Regency thing in Toronto).
My son got into his tux.
He has cameras loaded. So do I.
It was now determined that I pick up his friend and then get my son's date (her grandmother wanted to know how she was getting home. I said by Limo.) and then meet the rest at the school. The pre-prom photos shoot was 3-6PM. We got there at four. Seems that on the way, I was back in the flower shop because his friend had neglected to pick up his flowers.
Then, there was the "can't find the girl" routine - horrible directions. Stumbled on the street. Literally.
But we got there.
I sat out on the sidelines for two hours while they wended their way to the camera. I watched the crowd.
No one knows what is appropriate for a prom anymore.
I saw costumes. I saw 17-going-on-40 dresses slit to the crotch, I saw prom dresses (demure, expensive). You name it, someone was wearing it. The guys were mostly in standard black with a few zoot-suits (complete with hats and canes) thrown in for good measure. The behavior ran the gamut too.
Oh well.
I baby-sat cameras and purses.
They also serve who sit and wait.
By nearly six, my eight had made the camera. I got to slip in and shoot each couple while the photographer was setting up.
They wrapped up their business and I headed out to find the limo. They knew to follow.
At my van, I waited. And watched as a long black limo cruised by - yep, it was ours.
It came around the block and started thru the school lot just as my group was ready for it. They proceeded to flag it down. By various means. The boys already had their jackets off. Garters on.
The driver was confused. He had a different name.
Turns out, it was a subcontract.
Oh, good.
He had no clue.
I gave him one.
A typed itinerary and address list.
Good thing I was there.
The kids were ecstatic. To say the least. They crawled into the car (after posing for photos with it.)
They discovered the sun roof.
They discovered the phone.
"Tom" disabled the phone and warned them about the sun roof (no hanging out while the car was in motion.)
I discovered that there was no wine for later, no softdrinks for the kids.
Oh, good.
Tom cruised the parking lot so the kids could pop out the top of the car. Then they took off - a big long black car. Headed for Oakland docks and the dinner cruise ship. My baby on board.
I went home to wait.
My older son arrived on time. In a tee-shirt and slacks and sneakers. I was informed that this was a dressed up as he gets.
They were new pants. New shirt. Clean-cut haircut. New sneakers.
Actually, he looked pretty good.
I let him pick the wine.
We took the long, black limo to the Hub shopping mall to the liquor store. That got a few looks. Limos are not normally seen in Fremont unless it is a wedding.
Then we were off to San Francisco and the Golden Gate bridge.
Cool. We had to go over two bridges and came back via the marina. Neat.
At the Golden gate, we got out for photos, of course, and low and behold, below us in the bay were the dinner cruise ships. On one of which is my younger child.
Cute.
It was fun to just sit back and relax - my older son thought it was a hoot to go riding in a limo with your mother drinking Champaign.
Why not?
The driver then went back for the group - with orders for softdrinks. The kids had placed the orders earlier.
I sat at home to wait.
My older son, after sharing a bowl of hot soup, took the rest of the wine and drove home. He needed sleep.
By 2:30AM I got nervous and called the driver. They were close by - my son and his friend the last two to be dropped off.
Seems that my son's date was dropped off at a place way out of the way - of course, and one couple went to the boy's house (she had been flown in for the party), two couples went to the school (seems they had driven in) and so my son and his friend were on their way home.
Why the delay?
Well, upon hearing that I had gone over the bridge - the group had decided they had to do a bridge too - so the driver took them to a close one - and they screamed their way over the top. They rolled down windows and asked nearby cars for Gray Poupon. Abdul leaned out the windows and shouted in a heavy accent, "I love this country! I'm going to get a green card!" (He is not an immigrant.)
Having exhausted this game, but never the window and screen controls between them and the driver, ("Are we there yet?") they decided they just had to take the limo through Jack-in-the-box.
Tom knew where there was a Jack-in-the-Box that he could get the car through.
And then they forgot ketchup - so he had to get that too. And they locked him out of the car. By accident.
Only then could they consider going home.
The driver told me about the previous weeks' carload. The kids arrived in BMWs. They stayed at their prom all of 20 minutes. They got beer and booze and went places and sent him to fetch this kid and that. They chain smoked. They pretended to be grown-up. He was driving from 6PM to 6AM. 17 years olds trying to be 35.
He said my group were just what kids should be - 17 going on 17.
I haven't seen the final bill.
But I saw my son's face.
He had a good time.
Worth every penny.
|
