Prom night

It's one of those rare occasions that a person will remember (hopefully fondly) for the rest of their lives. The opportunity todress up to the nines, take a loved one on your arm and celebrate the end of compulsory education that has taken ten to eleven years of hard graft to complete.
It's a culmination of a life you have been used to since you can remember...the necessity that you go to school, attend four or five lessons each weekday and see your group of friends for social breaktimes. Now, all of a sudden, your life and where it goes from here is in your own hands and some decisions for the future have to be made. It's by this time that you need some form of vision for where you want to be and where you want your life go.
But hey, before that it's party time. Perhaps why this night is so important in every youth's life (admittedly more particularly in girls who feel pampered and special with the opportunity to pull out all the stops to looks stunning and feel like a princess)
Well, this was what was in my head this time last year as my prom approached. My friends planned to attend, my girlfriend of the time was going to be my date and it was going to be a lot of fun. But work soon put paid to that and because of a colleagues holiday, I was unable to get the night off. I have never pulled a dishonest sickie in my life and don't think I ever shall...but never was I more tempted than night.
However, I went without my prom and that was that. opportunity missed.

In recent months...(it feels like a lifetime, actually) I have become increasingly close to a 'special someone' who just so happens to be a year younger than I am. The path of true romance never does run smoothly and I don't think anyone can appreciate this quite so much as me and her (who I shall call J for the purpose of this post). Four months on, and a lot has happened. But, while I won't go into detail with that, she did invite me as her date to her prom. And last night, I was all dressed up in an incredibly uncomfortable dinner suit and heading with a stunning J by my side to a posh hotel...in a zebra colour 'wildlife' minibus!
The dignified event gave everyone the opportunity to scrub up well, and everyone who I know certainly made a good job of that. I am certainly glad that my 'prom experience' occured a year later as I'm sure I enjoyed it a lot more than I would have a year ago, mainly due to the company I was in.

Now, I know I still have two promises of photos to uphold of my fancy dress day and my holiday but I'm adding another promise to the list that, yes, prom pictures are on their way to 'The Diary Of mr Slug Take two' So, try and contain your excitement and they'll be here as soon as possible.

In the meantime, I hope everyone who reads this who shared in a fab night out with me last night had as good a time as I did.
And particular notes and mentions to J, who knows how special she is to me.