I Wanna Dance with Somebody

Over the past three years, it has become clear that our son loves music and getting dressed up to go to dances or proms. We learned of his love for this when he was first invited to the Tim Tebow Foundation’s Night to Shine. At first, he hated the idea of getting fitted for a tuxedo. However, he soon fell in love with the idea of wearing shiny shoes and going to a dance all dressed up. 

He had attended three or four proms between the Night to Shine events and his high school’s Life Skills proms. Unfortunately, due to COVID, everything was canceled. And this was my son Jac’s senior year.

I am all about parties. And over the years, we have hosted everything for our oldest son, Jac’s brother. From Boy Scout parties to drumline parties, you name it, and we have done it. One thing that we’d never done was host any type of dancing event. 

I decided it surely couldn’t be that hard, so the planning began. We started decorating about two weeks before the dance. I figured we couldn’t go wrong with tons of balloon arches and lights all over the main dance area and classic black, gold and silver decorations. 

We ordered some food trays, bottled drinks and cookies and sent out homemade invitations to the three Life Skills classes at Jac’s school. Then prayed that we would have some attendees come.

As it came time for the prom to start, Jac decided he did not want to have anything to do with the event. He knew he was dressed up, but he couldn’t understand why the floor was dirty since we had confetti sprinkled on the floor to make it look festive. Jac decided he wasn’t going to dance. He simply wanted to lay on the couch and cover his head with a pillow. 

Finally, a student arrived. When we got the disco lights going and some tunes playing, Jac decided to dance. The doorbell would ring and in would walk another kid. I think before the night was over, we had a total of eight kids, which was about seven more than I imagined during such a strange time with COVID.

To say that this night was magical would be an understatement. Several moms stayed to chat and became fast friends. Some of the moms even wandered onto the dance floor to dance to YMCA. 

One young man loved to couple dance and danced the whole night with everyone, including my husband and mother. The girls in their beautiful dresses and shoes loved dancing the Cupid Shuffle. And everyone left smiling and laughing. I will never forget this night as long as I live because of the smiles that night and the magic of the music. 

Here is a link to more great prom stories.