Prom '06
Before you do a double take, I didn't title my post wrong. The past two weekends were proms of sort for me. Two weeks ago was Liz and Bill's wedding where I hung out with my college friends, dressed up, danced and generally had a good time. It was the actual prom/dance. This past weekend was more like the post-prom.
This past weekend I went to Nevada (pronounced Nuh-VA-duh), MO, the hometown of my co-worker Jim. It was the high school prom in Nevada and he invited a group of us from St. Louis to enjoy some smalltown Missouri hospitality. His younger brother is a junior at the high school and each year it's tradition for the prom attendees to ride up in various vehicles and walk down the Red Carpet in front of most of the town. Despite the rainy and cold weather we braved 3 hours of watching everything from stretch Hummers to old pick-ups, classic vettes to new miatas, herses to pontoon boats, pull up to the event and drop off the prom-goers. This was something only John Cougar Mellencamp could write a song.
Of course, our group being a bit too old for, Jim's friends from Nevada hosted a prom of their own complete with corsages, a photo backdrop, memory books and of course food. We spent the night eating, drinking, dancing and generally having fun. Of course no prom would be complete without a nice breakfast, cooked up by Jim's parents who were excellent hosts.
After weeks, no months, of long hours and hectic schedules, it was a much-needed change of pace the last two weeks. What I've really grown to cherish over these last two years are the friendships I've made along with the friends I still have. While I have many friends from my college and high school years, AmeriCorps has introduced me to a wider array of individuals than my previous experiences. I knew coming into this experience I would find new lifelong friends, but never had I imagined that I would find so many people that were very different from me in many ways, and yet we would still find common ground to build a lasting relationship.
Last year, I learned so much from the students I worked with and this year, I'm learning so much from my friends, both old and new.
This past weekend I went to Nevada (pronounced Nuh-VA-duh), MO, the hometown of my co-worker Jim. It was the high school prom in Nevada and he invited a group of us from St. Louis to enjoy some smalltown Missouri hospitality. His younger brother is a junior at the high school and each year it's tradition for the prom attendees to ride up in various vehicles and walk down the Red Carpet in front of most of the town. Despite the rainy and cold weather we braved 3 hours of watching everything from stretch Hummers to old pick-ups, classic vettes to new miatas, herses to pontoon boats, pull up to the event and drop off the prom-goers. This was something only John Cougar Mellencamp could write a song.
Of course, our group being a bit too old for, Jim's friends from Nevada hosted a prom of their own complete with corsages, a photo backdrop, memory books and of course food. We spent the night eating, drinking, dancing and generally having fun. Of course no prom would be complete without a nice breakfast, cooked up by Jim's parents who were excellent hosts.
After weeks, no months, of long hours and hectic schedules, it was a much-needed change of pace the last two weeks. What I've really grown to cherish over these last two years are the friendships I've made along with the friends I still have. While I have many friends from my college and high school years, AmeriCorps has introduced me to a wider array of individuals than my previous experiences. I knew coming into this experience I would find new lifelong friends, but never had I imagined that I would find so many people that were very different from me in many ways, and yet we would still find common ground to build a lasting relationship.
Last year, I learned so much from the students I worked with and this year, I'm learning so much from my friends, both old and new.
posted by Tim Weiss at 9:27 PM
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