Promposal - (n)- a proposal from one person asking another person to the prom; is the combination of the words "prom" and "proposal."
Prom season can be one of the loveliest and craziest times of a person’s high school career. Though media and television, a student learns the importance of going (or not going) to this formal event. Floor length gowns that can easily surpass a few hundred dollars, suit jackets that, once tailored, can make anyone look like Chris Hemsworth and music that is the staple of your generation.
Before one can buy the perfect dress or a tie the right shade of coral pink, there’s preparation. And part of prep is finding out who you're going to prom with, but this is one part that you do not always have to do yourself. Hence the concept of "promposal."
Currently some promposal viral videos are resurfacing because it is close prom season and some have a lot of negative comments along with them. Very much opposite of my feelings when I did my promposal and the comments I have gotten from fellow classmates that day. Some of the comments say, "This is too much" or, "It's just prom." Personally, I was only allowed to go to prom my senior year. Prom was my last chance to see all of my friends decked out from head to toe - probably looking the best they've been in four years - and the last chance for them to see me like that as well. It was important to me. Putting on my dress and showing how "mature" I can look was important to me; I had waited four years for this moment.
A promposal is not a necessary big outlandish thing. Not everyone has to have one and there isn't a set code for it. What I do know is that I went to a high school where students wanted to one-up each other, and when it came to prom season, that ideology was in full force. During prom season, there were 'posals left and right. Whether small - someone in my studio class getting a “referral note” from their teacher but actually it being an invite, or large - I had handmade puzzle pieces spelling out their name hidden in my then-girlfriend's classrooms. During the last class (which we had across from the hall from each other), she put them all together to fill out my saying, "You're the missing piece to my puzzle," with another poster that said "Will you go to prom with me?" with four blanks after it. They all create long-lasting memories.
I cannot tell you the joy I felt when my girlfriend at the time figured out the puzzle and put them together in front of our two favorite teachers and two classes. I had some students in the yearbook committee prepared to take professional photos as the moment happened. Joy filled the air as my girlfriend said yes, and claps and camera shutters were heard in the background. I captured that moment forever.
It's hard to think that someone looking in on my relationship would look down on me, based on my idea of a good surprise and how I know how to make my partner happy and say that my efforts were "too much."
The idea that high school relationships last "forever" is just a smiling nod in the preservation of youth. After prom, friends would be going across the state, country and world to different colleges and the network that they have built, the names that they have built, will dissolve. So there is this one thing, their promposal. The one they have planned for a few months. They took their time, they took note of what made their partner happy. They stayed after school for a few extra hours or spent money. All for this one moment of happiness.
We should let the students go big, let them create memories or moments that could potentially last until they die.
Life is just a long string of moments. So we should let them have this one.
(A photo of me and my ex-girlfriend on prom night.)
