"I Hope You Dance..."

Truth be told I haven't looked back at my prom pictures in years and years. I shudder at the the thought of me in that oh-so-stylish mermaid style frock in the appealing shade of Pepto Bismol, with my hair poofed up to a maximum height and secured soundly with Aqua Net. Not one of my better moments. It almost seems fitting that the only pictures I have to remember that vision of "beauty" I was were some fuzzy low quality shots from a cheap disc camera (remember those?). We all stood like ridiculous statues in front of a rented limo in our 80's style. I cringe just thinking about it.

But now that I'm a mom and watching the children that I've known since babyhood grow up and come of age, I look at these moments from a different perspective. For a teenager, a school dance is monumental. When my neighbor's oldest daughter got invited to her high school's ring dance and her mom asked me to take pictures for her, I became as giddy as if I were going myself. And looking with a photographer's eye now, I thought about some of the moments that are special but typically not captured by the camera... such as the preparation process:

I love the fact that the style of  the dresses nowadays are pretty timeless. I can't see this beautiful young lady looking back at this image and think "Oh-mi-God, I look so 2011!!!"

 Her date might look back and giggle a bit at his hairstyle, though. Just sayin'... actually, my son's hair is way shaggier than this.

The corsage was beautiful and just popped against the backdrop of her lovely blue gown.

This was a ring dance after all, so we needed what I like to call the "Wonder Twin" shot. Actually this image has even more meaning since he's wearing his class ring, and the ring she's wearing was a gift from him.

Perhaps one of my favorite shots (because I'm a parent now) is dad giving the happy couple the "talk" before they get in the car...

And the fun shot as they drive off into the sunset...

I hope she looks back at these shots years from now and smiles. No shuddering or cringing allowed.