Garters – My Corner

P Is for Prom #TuesdayTidbit #Life’s Alphabet #Poetry

My senior prom was memorable and unusual, as evidenced by the following poem. You can click on the title to hear me read it.

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Yellow Prom Memories

A long yellow skirt and yellow blouse with three-quarter-inch sleeves

I wore to my senior prom in 1980.

Dad reluctantly agreed to be my date,

as no boy asked me, and I had no courage to ask a boy.

I don’t remember the color of Dad’s suit

or the corsage and boutonniere Mother ordered.

I do recall Dad and me dancing,

me taking off my garter,

placing it on Dad’s arm,

him immediately removing it, embarrassed,

the picture taken of the two of us

that Grandma displayed in her music room for years.

Dad and Grandma are gone.

Who knows what happened to the yellow skirt and blouse,

the flowers, the garter, the photo,

but the memories remain.

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What do you remember about your senior prom? Please share in the comment field below.

Thanks to beetleypete for inspiring my Life’s Alphabet series with a similar one of his that he posted on his blog last December. Every day, he wrote about a different aspect of his life, using words starting with consecutive letters of the alphabet. Mine is a weekly series, and this week’s letter is P. Thank you for reading.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

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New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

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Two Pentacles Publishing.

Sixteen-year-old Natalie’s grandmother, suffering from dementia and confined to a wheelchair, lives in a nursing home and rarely recognizes Natalie. But one Halloween night, she tells her a shocking secret that only she and Natalie’s mother know. Natalie is the product of a one-night stand between her mother, who is a college English teacher, and another professor.

After some research, Natalie learns that people with dementia often have vivid memories of past events. Still not wanting to believe what her grandmother has told her, she finds her biological father online. The resemblance between them is undeniable. Not knowing what else to do, she shows his photo and website to her parents.

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

Her younger sister, Sarah, senses their parents’ marital difficulties. At Thanksgiving, when she has an opportunity to see Santa Claus, she asks him to bring them together again. Can the jolly old elf grant her request?

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Prom Attire #Six-Sentence Thursday

I remember my prom dress that I believe my mother purchased at a boutique. It was actually a long skirt and a blouse with three-quarter-inch sleeves, both bright yellow. It was probably the cheapest outfit we could find, but I loved it. I went to the prom with my dad, since I didn’t have a date, and I had a great time, but I think my poor father was embarrassed, being among all those teenagers, especially during the garter ceremony, when I removed that item from my ankle and placed it on his arm, as instructed. In my latest novel, my main character wanted her mother to buy her a prom dress at a local boutique, but her mother made a dress instead. To learn what happened after that, read The Red Dress.

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Thanks to Girlie on the Edge for inspiring the above with her six-sentence prompt for this week. If you’d like to participate in her blog hop, click here.

By the way, for those of you who use the National Library Services for the Blind and Print Disabled, The Red Dress is available for download from their site here. No matter how you read it, please be sure to review it wherever you can. That goes for all my books. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe, happy, and healthy.

New! The Red Dress

When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.

Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.

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A Most Unusual Experience #Open Book Blog Hop

This week, I decided to participate in Stevie Turner’s Open Book Blog Hop. Her question is this. What’s the most unusual experience you’ve had, and have you incorporated that into your writing?

In 1980, when I was a senior in high school, I was the only girl in my class whose dad accompanied her to her senior prom. Did that embarrass me? Not at all, especially since no other boy in the class asked me.

At the time, I had a crush on a boy. Dad said that if I asked him, and he agreed to go with me, Dad would loan him his car. But I never worked up the courage to ask him.

So, my father, wanting his little girl to experience her senior prom, agreed to take me. It was fun for me but not for poor Dad. He was one of few adults in that gymnasium. To make matters worse, during a ceremony, all the girls had to remove the garters from their ankles and attach them to their dates’ shirt sleeves.

I didn’t exactly incorporate this experience in my writing, but Eve, the main character in my latest book, The Red Dress, had a much worse experience. In the following excerpt, she tells her story to her college roommate.

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“Mom made that dress for my senior prom. I had a date with Trent Boyer, the cutest boy in school. He was the captain of the football team, and I loved watching him play.”

“Wow, just like Alex.”

“Yeah. Well, at the prom, we danced to that song, and I felt like I truly loved him, and I thought he loved me. Afterwards, he said he had to use the restroom. Other boys asked me to dance, and I got to talking with my friends, and when I looked around the gym later, I couldn’t find him. I asked my friends if they’d seen him, and they just shook their heads.”

“Oh, gosh.”

“Like I said, I thought he loved me. I didn’t think he’d leave me. I decided to go out to the parking lot to see if his car was still there. He’d dropped me off at the entrance, so I didn’t know where he’d parked. It took me a while to find his car, but I did, in a dark corner up against the fence by the football field. I looked in the window and saw two figures in the back seat.”

“Oh, my God.”

“I thought I was imagining things. I was on the driver’s side, so I opened that door, and of course the light came on, and there they were, Trent and my best friend, Adele Matthews. Or at least I thought she was my best friend.”

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What did Eve do next? Who is Alex, and what dress are they talking about? Read The Red Dress to find out. By the way, for those in the United States, the book is available for download from the National Library Services for the Blind and Print Disabled website.

New! The Red Dress

Front cover contains: young, dark-haired woman in red dress holding flowers

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Musical Memory Monday: A White Sport Coat

Tis the season for the junior/senior prom. Unlike the fellow in the song I’m about to sing today, my date never changed his mind about taking me to the prom, although he almost chickened out.

When I was a senior in high school, I had a crush on Milward, but neither he nor any other boy asked me to the prom. Since Dad worked with Milward’s parents in community theater, he trusted Milward, so he said that if I asked him, and he said yes, he could borrow Dad’s station wagon. In 1980, I don’t think many boys had vehicles of their own. In any case, I never worked up the courage to ask Milward, so Dad promised to take me himself.

However, the night before the event, he suggested that we all go out to dinner instead. I was crestfallen. Mother and I were planning to shop for a dress the next day. I really wanted to go to the prom but didn’t want to go by myself, although Dad would have been willing to drop me off and pick me up later, since I couldn’t drive due to my visual impairment. I don’t remember how, but I convinced him to keep his promise.

We did all go out to dinner, though, before the prom. First, Mother gave Dad and me each a flower to wear. Then we went in two separate cars: Dad and me in one and my mother and younger brother in the other. After a nice dinner at one of the fanciest restaurants in town, Dad and I drove to the prom.

I don’t remember how the school gymnasium was decorated, but I do recall a swing in one corner where Dad and I sat while someone took our picture. Grandma displayed that photo in her music room for years.

I had a great time. One or two boys may have asked me to dance, but most of the time, I danced with Dad. He’d taught me how to dance when I was fifteen, so after three years, I’d gotten good at it.

Looking back though, I think Dad may have felt a little out of his element. There weren’t many people his age, and the music the band played wasn’t his style. After the garter ceremony, in which I removed the offending item from my stocking and placed it on his arm, he’d had enough. Now, I don’t blame him for almost chickening out, but I’m glad he kept his promise. It would have been my only opportunity to attend a senior prom.

What do you remember about your senior prom? Who was your date? Had you been dating this person long before you two went to the prom together? Did your date change his/her mind? What did you do?

In my new novel, The Red Dress, which is now in the hands of the publisher, DLD Books, my protagonist catches her date in the act with her best friend on Prom Night. So, which do you think is worse, that or having your date change his/her mind at the last minute?