School dances, and young love.

Yesterday I had a conversation with my co-workers that made me think about the school dances I went to in middle school. We talked about the music that was played and if we had a date or not. As they spoke I flashed back to my '92 - '93 6th grade year. This was the year that I discovered what some people, mostly my 6th grade teachers, call puppy love. It was also the year that my parents got on my case because of said puppy love. Throughout the beginning of the year I developed a crush on a girl named Meredith. She was cute, with a great smile, and her laugh was contagious. We had different homerooms but I definitely noticed her around. Word spread that I liked her and eventually we became boyfriend and girlfriend. It didn't happen with the ever popular note that read, "Do you like me? Circle yes or no."

Nope, I actually walked up to her and asked,

"Will you go out with me?"

It's funny how that question comes up. I mean, when you ask it, one would think they're being asked to go somewhere but we all know what it really means. I remember asking my mom about this the day before I did it and her response was,

"Ask her if she will go steady."

"Go steady", I thought. What is this, 1952? I know it meant the same thing but at that time it felt wrong to use this in a sentence. So I went with asking her out. She said yes and I was on cloud 9. Things were great between us. We called each other and wrote notes and my parents, as well as her mom, thought it was a little much. We didn't care though. What drove them nuts the most was that the teachers had labeled us as the Puppy Love couple. My dad was a little pissed and thought I should pay more attention to my school work but once again, I didn't care. Finally the day came when we would attend our first dance together. I can't remember what the occasion was but I remember dressing up and I was nervous. We had barely held hands and even then I would begin to sweat and become nervous or get the shakes. I remember she hung around my cousin Amanda for most of the night. I hung around with my friend Mike and every now and then we would catch each others eye and smile. For whatever reason we remained separate until the final dance of the night. You would think we would have wanted to hang out together the whole time but we didn't. We chose to dance the last song and it turned out to be Whitney Houston's, "I Will Always Love You". You remember Whitney Houston right? Before she thought crack was whack and cheap? Well anyway, I was flustered, nervous, and it didn't help that the teachers were walking around and watching everyone to make sure there was an arms length between us. In the end the night turned out great. We continued dating up until our sophomore year of high school and we attended many school functions. The school dances were the best though.

From what I have said about myself, what do you remember about your school years? Do you remember your first love? What song do you remember most from the first school dance you attended? What about school activities? I remember doing something with Carnations at school. I think it was in high school and possibly during Valentine's Day. The charge was a buck and they were delivered during class or you could buy them during lunch and give them to your Valentine. I believe that's how it worked. It was fun either way and I think we even did a Match Maker form where we would fill out a survey and compare the answers with others in the school. The charge was a dollar and at the end of the day or even week, a printout would be given back with the results of, best match - worst match. Just something fun for us to participate in and an easy way to make a buck for the school.

So what about your school dance? Do you remember anything about them? Was there a moment that stands out above the rest? I remember showing up to dances and seeing the majority of the guys on one side and the girls on the other. Some people were shy and wouldn't go out on the dance floor unless dragged out but once "YMCA", which was always a favorite, came on the floor was packed. As I got older the separation of guys and girls turned from gender to simply groups. People were split into labels unless you floated between all of them. Out of everything that would change there were a few things that remained. There were still the awkward steps of those who did not know how to dance, the nerves and drenching sweats that came from dancing with the you liked for the first time, and the break-ups that followed some dances. So here's your chance folks. Tell me what you remember about your school dances or young loves. Let's take a trip down memory lane and share some stories. To get you in the mood check out the video below. Nothing beats this original! Cheers!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUsNpfXwEy0]