A Memoir by Elizabeth Reed

Before mani-pedis were affordable, before limos were the chariots of choice, before the first kiss of the night was the breathalyzer you put your lips on, the spring prom was a rite of passage, sometimes for drinking, sometimes for sex, for wearing a gown or that first French kiss mangled in braces.

My date was Adrian, a parent-approved date with Portuguese hair so curly and unruly that he grew it out and picked and puffed it into an Afro. His ruffled mint-green shirt matched the mint-green halter dress I made, a halter dress over a halter bra, as if that would ever halt my budding interest in genitalia I wasn’t supposed to know anything about. I leaned my long-sleeved mint greet jacket patterned with tiny daisies that tied under my breasts, against his white linen tux with a black satin stripe bordering the collar and the pockets that concealed his plans for the evening—a square, foil package I’d never seen. 

My corsage of two white and yellow roses, curated symbols hiding the wild dandelions growing at my feet and up my legs, waiting to be plucked, to be deflowered. I was a late bloomer compared to the high school junior and senior girls, whose whispers I overheard in our car rides home from music events. The best prop of the evening? His ’57 Chevy, the car his father bought when his son was born, waxed and shined like a mirror of the past and into the future, a long front seat with no annoying console in the middle. 

White suit. Minty smiles. A prom that ended at 11:30 P.M. and a midnight curfew. The guardrails my parents thought would hold us in place. The guardrails I smashed.

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Elizabeth Reed is a writer, musician and traveler. She was born in Portugal and is married to a native German, giving her a variety of cultural perspectives. An intrepid traveler, Betty and her husband have traveled to forty-six countries with one or two children in tow. She is a three-time cancer survivor and parent of a child with Juvenile Arthritis. She believes in adjusting, not giving up goals. Her articles and essays have been published in The Boston Globe Magazine, The Rumpus, Parents, Fifty Give or Take, and other journals.