Flashback

Last night, I watched an old episode of True Life on MTV. It was the "I'm going to Prom" episode, which in and of itself isn't that interesting, but it got me thinking about my own Prom experience. My Senior year is the one I invariably end up looking back on, for a number of reasons. For anyone keeping track, I was Prom Queen! I know, people are usually surprised to find that out, since I don't really seem the type. But nonetheless, I managed to cross that one off the bucket list. My dress was awesome -- vintage 1952 black dress, totally gorgeous! I love, love, love that I got to wear it that year.

But one of the most pronounced things to remember now, which happens to have taken on new meaning in recent years, is that my Senior Prom was where I met Ben for the first time. He went with my best friend, Helen, something we all thought was totally awesome. We kind of idolized all of Helen's older brother's, also named Ben, friends, so Helen taking one of them to Prom was pretty epic. At the time, we were both dating other people, so I would be lying if I said any sparks flew, although that would make it a much better story. We have since determined that we had been at the same place a few other times -- intersecting friend circles will do that -- but hadn't officially met.

Honestly, the biggest thing I remember from the night was making fun of him and Helen. That sounds mean, I know, but if anyone known my friend group at all, they know we show love by picking on each other. Primarily, we were mocking them for swing dancing. Of course, we ended up looking like asses for even trying to copy them, but still. I always think back to that when Ben tries to get me to dance with him. We did talk a bit, although he was too busy talking about guy stuff with our friend Matt, but I left the afterparty early. He kept calling me "Queenie", which I thought was pretty cute. He still does from time to time, primarily when we're talking about when we met.

I wish I could remember that exact moment when we were introduced. Apparently Helen introduced him to my mom, and she gave him a hug. But it's one of those at-the-time-innocent moments that now has so much more depth to it. There was no way either of us could have known that in almost exactly two years, we would be together, let alone be engaged in about three and a half. It's so funny now to remember it all!