Mormon Prom

Last Friday was our area's "Mormon Prom", which is basically a way of letting the youth in the stake have all the benefits of a prom (and I'm sure there must be some) without having to deal with all the downsides (alcohol, hotel rooms, finding a safe direction to look while dancing, etc.)  It was held at the California Science Center in LA. but the couples all rode down from the stake center and back on a chartered bus.  My inside source says that it was "good".

In no particular order, here are some of my thoughts on the whole thing:

• In the weeks leading up to the prom, I'm fairly sure that almost all the parents and youth leaders felt like they were in a production of "Fiddler on the Roof".  Or at least one of the musical numbers. It made me really not miss high school a lot more than I already don't.  (As a further tangent, the next time I need a screen name, "Laser Wolf" is on the short list of candidates.)
• I may be being a bit naive, but it was nice to not have to worry very much as a parent about the party and afterparty.  I remember talking to some of my labmates in grad school about one of the standard dates at BYU being going for a hike.  A few of the girls said that they definitely would not have felt comfortable going on a hike for a date--that they'd feel like they were being lured to an out-of-the way place.  I hadn't even considered such an angle before.  Although now, I can better empathize with why Stacy Sorenson's parents were not thrilled with the idea of our senior class at Waterford spending the whole graduation night up at the circle of rocks on the mountain behind our house.
• It probably says something about both Daniel and me that he didn't want to tell me the name of his date, out of fear that I would tease him about her in front of younger siblings.  On a related note, Sarah had volunteered to do this blog post, though she would probably have used Photoshop to put them sitting in a tree.
• I have a child who's old enough to date!