I’ve now realised that moving house is a time when you end up reminiscing. A lot!
There are boxes and boxes of things that came out of the loft at my old house, that I haven’t seen for years, that I’m now losing hours going through photos, school year books and other mementoes of the past. I’ve never been that good at getting rid of things, and it’s at times like this when I’m incredibly glad that I am the way I am.
Not only have my kids had a good laugh looking at photographs of me at school, but I’m also reminded of some of the amazing things that I did when younger. There are pictures from trips with friends, work trips, conferences abroad and a random mix of certificates that seem to cover everything from work training courses on risk management through to outward bound courses. I even came across the write up of both my silver and gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards and in the folder also seems to be the complete kit list of everything we carried with us (all weighed so we knew how heavy our rucksacks were!) and even the route plans for our expedition.
There are so many fantastic memories wrapped up in D of E, yet it is something that I hadn’t thought about in years and years.
Another set of photos that I came across were the ones taken at my sixth form leavers ball. Whilst a secondary school prom seems to be relatively common these days, not all schools had a ball for leavers or anything similar. It was our one opportunity to really let our hair down and have some serious fun after years of hard work. I’m slogged my guts out for my A-levels, and ended up incredibly proud of how I did in the final exams, but I also remember just how much I needed something like the ball to look forward to at the end of it all.
There’s one picture of me and two friends that totally captures the night perfectly. We’d posed for an official photo in the hall earlier in the evening, and in that picture none of us have a hair out of place but the smiles on our faces were a little forced for the camera. In this second picture though we were caught unawares on the dance floor. Arms in the air, singing along and completely lost in the moment. We quite simply look so incredibly happy and like we haven’t got a care in the world.
Back then I didn’t think I was someone who really put that much thought into how I looked or anything like that. I didn’t remember spending anytime worrying about prom dresses for your body type, or anything like that, but then when I look at the seventeen year old girl smiling back at me from the photos I realise that I actually did spend more time on how I was going to look that night that I’d realised. For possibly the only time in my life my nails are painted and I seem to have done something strange to my hair (were weird curls a thing back in the 90s?) and the dress I’m wearing is one that I now recall spending hours in Meadowhall trying to find. We spent days talking about what we were going to wear, and ages getting dressed up ready to go. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever spent quite so long getting ready to go out!
My efforts must have paid off though. I didn’t get a date for the ball, but I do still wonder who the kilt wearing long haired bloke was that suddenly pulled me to one side for a kiss…
Disclaimer: This post is written in association with Prom Dress Finder.
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