John 3:16 – Be thankful, grateful, patient, charitable, kind, and smile, as it is infectious. God Bless America; protect our president and Military!
The end of the senior school year was 1974. We were going to the Archbishop Prendergast prom with my wife’s schoolmate Jeannette ( no Last Names) and her date. The problem was that I found out Jeannette’s father, the local mayor of the borough they lived in, didn’t approve of their relationship because Jim was quite a bit older.
Jim was not only an older guy but also loved his beer almost as much as he loved his life as a junkyard derby, drag-racing motorhead. Jim had already wrecked more cars at that time than I think we’ve owned throughout our marriage.
However, that night we devised a plan that my date, and now wife, would wait around the corner, and I would show up as Jeannette’s date. Something she talked up over several weeks leading up to the prom. That night started off with me being welcomed with open arms not only by her parents but also by some of her extended family. We took pictures and shared laughs about how we met through my now-wife, Nancy. I gave her the nosegay Jim bought her, and she nervously pinned Jim’s flower to my tux lapel for the many pictures.
Looking back, now, as a father of two girls and a grandfather of four, I’m just glad, after the fact, that Jeannette’s father didn’t put a hit out on me. About a year later, they married. We were invited, and I had a very interesting conversation that night with her dad that ended in laughs and us cheering them and each other in a good old Irish way!
I am not sure how their marriage ended up, if they had children, where they live, as we moved apart, as many do after High School, with life’s twists and turns. I am just grateful that night, Jeannette’s father and mother forgave me. Like me, I hope every time the topic or pictures showed up, it gave them all a good laugh.
Below are some prom pictures of my wife and me from sophomore to Senior year proms at Archbishop Prendergast High School, respectively. I am posing (Top-L) proudly with my first official ride, a white vinyl-topped, purple Duster, a car that I loved. In my defense, long hair was in then! That’s me posing just before a football game in my senior year with my very proud parents, whom I miss very much.
So, what’s your story?
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