Prom and Forward

It's almost 10:00 p.m on Sunday evening as I sit down to write. I'm tired, but it's a really good tired. A tired from a very full week, tired. A week full of excitement, drama, fun and lots of activity. I'm ready for slumber.

Ken had to travel all this week, so I was a one-woman show. My days included shuttling to and from school, three baseball games, MBSR class, book group at my house, two meetings at my house, Junior Prom, 20 hours of work... oh, did I mention Junior Prom?

Torrie attended his Junior Prom with his delightful friend, Bridget, on Friday. Tessa was a huge help and took him for final alterations and pick-up of his tuxedo on Wednesday, while I was at a meeting.  Torrie looked very pleased with himself when I arrived home, but wouldn't let me see his tux until he was fully dressed for Prom. Ken had taken him the week prior to pick out his duds ("Honey, this is one of those 'big life moments', so no arguing with Torrie.. just be the 'yes man' and hand over the cash"), so I was dying to see him in it and he knew it. I worked at Giftology until 2:30, then zoomed to pick up Bridget's corsage and back home to be at our first of 4 (!) stops for pictures. I barreled into the house and there he was looking just amazing. My little guy was no longer a little guy, he was now my extremely handsome, big guy! Wow, when did THAT happen?

The next couple of hours was a blur of pictures, smiles, high fives and blushes. The girls were exquisite, elegant and gorgeous. The guys handsome, debonair and charming. Somewhere in the middle of taking pictures, I had a brief flash forward of days to come. As I saw him posed in one of the guys only shots, I had a vision of all of his friends lined up exactly the same, but at one of each other's weddings. Cue the tears.

A few years ago, I would not let myself even begin to think of Torrie's and Tessa's wedding days, let alone even their prom days. I never even thought that I would see Tessa graduate from high school and now she will be a junior at Villanova. That is what cancer does to you: it steals your dreams of the future. I have heard so often to "just enjoy today", "live for the moment", "be thankful for what you have", etc. I do, to all of those. But I also want to live a long life. I was told that probably would not be the case. That was several years ago.

Repeat: that WAS SEVERAL YEARS AGO!

Here I am tonight, exhausted from this past week.

How great is that?!

Goodnight.