What is the point of prom exactly? Now that is the question I've been asking myself and every other living being in my life for the past few months. Think about it. High school upperclassmen get all dressed up and flaunt themselves around at a social gathering. I am really looking forward to going this year, but as hard as I have tried, I just don't get it.

Since early March, I have been frantically trying to find everything needed for prom. Date? Check. I attend an all girls school, so every dance is Sadie Hawkins style. My boyfriend fits the part as my date which made this the one aspect of my preparation that I did not need to stress over. Dress? Check. Who would have known the price of dresses these days? Thankfully, I have family on the inside and they were able to give me a pretty nice discount. Prom tickets? Check. The price, once again, was unbelievable (one hundred and fifty dollars for three hours of hopefully bearable fun). That would figure out to be fifty dollars an hour which is twenty-five dollars per person each hour. If only my job paid that much.

So, prom is a dance. Well, there's a problem here. I don't dance and I'm not just saying that to be modest. My signature dance move consists of the seventies disco style dancing made complete by my legs uncontrollably jogging in place. I can't control them. The music starts and so does my dance move.

I guess my boyfriend and I will just have to sit during the dancing part. Well, there's another problem. My dress is so beautiful; it doesn't like to be sat on. Whenever I try to sit down, it suffocates me. The back lacing is styled after an old-fashioned corset and it must be laced up very tightly in order to prevent a wardrobe malfunction. This very elegant style, however, will not allow me to breathe and sit simultaneously.

We could just walk around the dance floor. However, I am struck by another problem. My feet in four inch heels struggle with the condition called HTS (heel tripping syndrome). This disorder occurs whenever I wear heels for long periods of time.

Now, to the attire of prom: don't even get me started on the cummerbund. What in the world is a cummerbund? My mom has explained it to me. My aunt has explained it to me. My cousin who owns the dress shop has explained it to me. I'm sorry, but I simply don't get it. I guess it's just a piece of fabric meant to prevent pants from falling down. Why don't they use belts? I like the look of belts. Cummerbunds look strange. They're all thick and weirdly colored. Do men even wear cummerbunds anymore? Why don't suits have cummerbunds? That makes me wonder about the difference between suits and tuxedos. They look the same in my opinion. Also, why are tuxedos so expensive? Suits aren't that expensive. Tuxedos look funny. What is the purpose of those funny looking tails on the back? I am again forced to think of ridiculous looking cummerbunds. I don't get it.


I also wonder why our families make such a big deal of prom. My entire family and my entire boyfriend's family think it's a huge special occasion. They've all invited themselves over to see us off. Yes, all of them. My grandma will be there. My aunt will be there. My mom, of course, will be there. The seven members of my boyfriend's family will be there. And, it's not like this is even my senior prom. I'm only a junior. Shouldn't everyone just wait until I'm a senior and then make this into a bigger deal than it is?

So, back to my original question, what is the point of prom? I spend hundreds of dollars to stress over the possibility of dancing uncontrollably, suffocating, and tripping on what should be the most elegant and fun night of my high school life. The more I try to think of a point, the more I am led to believe that maybe there is no point, at least not the kind of point I have been searching for. The point of prom is not philosophical. The point of prom is not complex. The point of prom is simply to celebrate the end of a four year journey or to prepare for the beginning of what may become the most memorable year of high school.