GOING TO THE FRESHMAN DANCE

     As I was going through some trees on Ancestry.com recently, I ran across a name I hadn't heard in years. Nick Fincher. Talk about a "blast from the past." He was a friend of my cousin's, Buddy Morris. It reminded me of an incident that happened when I was in the ninth grade before my mom died. I was good friends with a girl named Joanne Hammonds and we spent alot of time together. We would spend the night with each other and go to church at North Rome Church of GOD. When we started the ninth grade, my cousin, Buddy saw Joanne and it was love at first sight. Well no one believes in this happening but it did with them. Her dad wouldn't let her date so they just saw each other at school and talked on the phone. Sometimes, she would get off the bus at the Dairy King on Turner McCall to meet me as I usually walked from the city clock.. Just about all the kids met there in the mornings. Then we would walk across the bridge to school. Sometimes we would have a croud of 15 or 20 kids walking the sidewalk to school. Well as the year was coming to an end, the freshman dance was coming up. Buddy wanted to take Joanne. Her dad hemmed and hawed around and finally said she could go but only on a double date. In the mean time, Joanne started planning what she would wear because she knew after her mom got started that her dad would give in. I wanted to go so bad but I didn't have a boyfriend. I was afraid that I would have to go stag and I didn't want to stand by the wall. We had picked out our dresses. They were both pink with full skirts. These were the kind of dresses that you had to wear a hoop skirt under them. So we had everything ready. Dresses, hoop skirts. strapless bras, elbow length gloves, dancing slippers, and hose with no seams. Tiaras, with rhinestone necklaces and earrings to match. We even went to mom's beauty shop and got our hair done for the dance.  Well Buddy called and said that he had talked Nick into going with me. I was so excited that I wanted to jump for joy. I don't know what he used to bribe him but it worked and I went to Joanne's house to get ready so they could pick us up. I found out later that he promised him a case of beer. Boy, I found out what I was worth. But I didn't care, I was going to the dance. I couldn't wait for 7:00 to get here on that Saturday night. When the boys finally arrived, they had brought carnation corsages for each of us. They were the kind that fastened on your wrist. I felt like a princess. When we finally got to the dance, the place looked like a dream world. The decorations were to die for with streemers and ballons everywhere.. And the music, well it was the sixties so we could dance slow or fast with everything. I don't remember the songs or the theme but I think it was "Enchanted". All I know is that I was there and we danced and had a picture made in the front hall of the gym at East Rome High School. If I remember correctly, Trena Fricks was crowned "Queen of the Freshman Dance." And Buddy and Joann, well they are still married to this day. If you never do anything in your lifetime, at least attend a formal dance. Even if it is not the love of you life, you will never forget the feeling of walking into a ball room on the arm of a gentleman and dance and dance and dance. Those memories are priceless.