Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The Senior Prom and The Way We Were.......

Diane is beautiful and self-assured.  I am shy and self-conscious, with an injured eye.
I was a 17 year old high school senior, and it was time for the senior prom.  Now, this was a problem for me for several reasons.

First of all, I was deathly afraid of girls.  I very much wanted to talk to girls, date girls, be desirable to girls, etc; but, my self-esteem and confidence were nonexistent. 

Second, just a week before the prom, I had a very bad injury that I suffered on the baseball field.  I had been playing center field when the batter hit a ball into right-center field.  The right fielder and I collided head-on while trying to catch the ball. I ended up in the hospital.  My right eye was damaged (took about 6 months go get back to normal) and I looked pretty stupid, my eye clouded with blood and the right side of my face flattened out.  If I was self-conscious before the injury, I was a basket case afterward.

But, I HAD to have a date for the prom.  I'm a pretty sad looking specimen in the photograph above.  But Diane, my date, is the epitome of self-assurance.  Beauty and the beast.  Ha.

Gosh, wasn't I a skinny kid?  And, look at that haircut!  But, this is how we were in May of 1962.

NOTES: 

---I went on to develop self-esteem, have a family, put some weight on my frame and "find myself".

---Diane married one of her high school teachers, 15 years her senior, just a few weeks after graduation.  Predictably, they divorced.  I lost track of her years ago.

14 comments:

  1. Loved your memories, great to read.

    Thanks for you visit and your awe inspiring comment.

    Yvonne.

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  2. Oh dear - WOW. Marrying a high school teacher? YUCK! :)

    I think you look rather handsome in that photo - of course your injury was probably more noticeable in person...

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  3. What a sweet picture of you! My goodness, what a story of your prom date marrying a teacher not long after this photo was made! If that happened today, it would probably be on the national news. This was a very interesting prom story.

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  4. I had an injury before my prom too. I had two fingers broken by a wayward hockey puck in gym class. Not as bad as your injury, but for a girl on prom night not good. And I would like to add that I married a man 15 years my senior , and we are ready to start into our 19th year together. So it is not always a bad combo

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  5. Aww don't let us ladies fool ya! We get butterflies too. I'm sure she was worried about her hair or... something! It is sad she married a teacher. Yikes!

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  6. That's the way it is, Clint. Thank you for sharing. Now you've got your lovely Cindy.
    Greetings Sabine

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  7. Hi, Clint! I found your blog through some mutual blogs that we follow and your comments! I look forward to reading and getting to "know" you too!

    I didn't end up married to my prom date, either. I don't think many people do, lol! Although, maybe for you that was a good thing, given that she married a teacher! Must have been quite the scandal!

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  8. Thank you Clint for sharing these wonderful memories with us. Back in 1967 when I asked my girlfriend out to our senior prom, I too was very bashful. However, after being married to my high school sweetheart now for close to 42 years I've gotten over the bashfulness and like you...I have gained a few pounds and lost several hundred strands of hair. God bless, Lloyd

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  9. I love you "old" stories and pictures. You looked cute.

    Thanks for sharing. Have a beautiful day with a lot of sunshine.

    Greetings
    Petra

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  10. Clint I must say that I love so much about American life through this diary of your memories ...
    thanks to share with all of us these emotions and moments of your life, for me it is like an american film.

    I must say that I don't see in the picture that you had illness eye, and I must also say that you are not changed a lot, this is a fortune ...

    the girl was really beautiful and we can see that it was more self-confident than you were, but the girls grow faster than boys ...

    You were very nice indeed
    I can imagine your thrill, really cute


    ps: I regret that he never wanted to be photographed in the past, now I would have an album of memories, but I have very few photos of my adolescence ...

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  11. Very nice memories and I agree that everybody
    can see YOU in that photo.
    Thank you for your story!
    Monika

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  12. This actually gave me chills Clint! I think you look adorable and if kids at that age ONLY KNEW (or understood) how much "things" change in life (no matter what state they're in at thta moment)I think it would be a good thing. In most cases. :)

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  13. You were proper. Somehow your post makes me feel nostalgic and makes my eyes a little teary. Even though this was place and time so far away from me.

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  14. Hi Clint -

    Thank you for sharing this memory. Glad you got a date. Also, glad that you bloomed into the man that you have become.

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