Kathy Hanrahan: First loves and four proms

Yes, my mom paid for four dresses - BUT they were off the rack from Dillard's or Macy's.

Posted 10:35 a.m. May 6, 2022 — Updated 10:35 a.m. May 6, 2022

Kathy Hanrahan

, WRAL lifestyle editor

It's prom season and that has me reminiscing about the four proms I went to in high school.

Yes, my mom paid for four dresses - BUT they were off the rack from Dillard's or Macy's. I even got two on sale for $100 total! I just never got caught up in the entire "find the perfect dress" search at bridal stores or fancy shops. I also went to prom with the same guy three times - even though I was in love with someone else!

Get ready this is a bumpy ride through my adolescence:

Proms #1 and #2

Junior year of high school I was dating this guy for about a year. We went to different schools so that meant two proms! For my prom, we went to a friend's house and had dinner with two other couples, then took a limo from there to the prom venue, a convention center ballroom near New Orleans. We had fun then took the limo back to my friend's house and ate breakfast at midnight in her dining room. Pretty low key! No drinking or partying!

Second prom was at a hotel ballroom in New Orleans. My boyfriend's school had their prom there and we wanted to go out to eat at a fancy restaurant in the French Quarter, but weren't sure about driving there ourselves. My parents decided to drive us. They sat at another table from us at the restaurant and then drove us to prom. They spent time at a local casino at the slot machines until we called to have them pick us up from prom!

Dinner was so good, but the food didn't sit well with my stomach and I had a belly ache all night! People at prom thought I had been drinking or something, but nope, just too much Banana's Foster dessert.

Again, no drinking. No partying.

Prom #3

I broke up with my boyfriend before my senior year of high school. It was never going to work out because my first love was actually the guy who set me up with him in the first place. Remember this for Prom #4!

So I ended up going to prom with a guy I barely knew. He was a friend of a friend and went to school 30 or more minutes away. He was a great date - paid for the food, the limo, the flowers, etc.

Well, we went with four other couples in a huge limo. We started the night at a nice Italian restaurant and then when the limo arrived to pick us up, we hit a snag.

Some of the couples had an ice chest they wanted to bring in the limo. That ice chest might have been filled with daiquiris....

The limo drive shut it down! He was not going to lose his license or go to jail for open containers or underage drinkers in his limo. The cooler ended up in the back of someone's car while we went to prom!

Prom was fun. Lots of dancing, taking photos.

Soon, we were ready to leave and hit the town. After prom in New Orleans, most people went to Bourbon Street to party. Being underage was rarely an issue with getting alcohol - either teens brought their own in their limos (if their drivers didn't care) or they used fake IDs on Bourbon Street to get drinks. (This is sounding a lot like that "90210" episode where Donna Martin almost didn't graduate!)

No one wanted to go to the French Quarter and walk around in full evening gowns. We all brought changes of clothes, except one girl. So to show solidarity we all stayed in our fancy dresses and heels! My date wrapped his jacket around me so I'd be at least a little shielded. He couldn't protect my shoes though when I kicked over a cup (that was either filled with beer or urine - I didn't stop to find out) on the street corner. I couldn't clean my shoes and feet enough!!

No one was brave enough to try to get alcohol without a fake ID, so we just walked around and then headed back to the limo and to my house.

The cooler of alcohol made it back to my house and before the owners of it left, they took out a half-gallon of daiquiris and left it in my possession. Little old me - 18 years old - not a drinker, I ended up sharing a drink with my friend in the driveway. She was distraught because her date didn't kiss her goodnight. We had the limo for another hour so I took the driver for a tour around town - passed every ex-boyfriend's house I could find. We got lost a few times down some dead end streets, but it was fun! I might have been a little tipsy....

Prom #4

I was dating a guy with a nose ring. He hated prom. I had agreed to go with my ex -boyfriend because he needed a date. We ended up, somehow, in a limo with two other couples. One were just friends going to prom together. The other, well, that was my first love and his girlfriend. The same couple who let me tag along on my birthday to their Valentine's Day movie date. Talk about an awkward prom!

Kathy Hanrahan: Ghosts of Valentine's Day past

My ex spent the time trying to win me back. My actual boyfriend spent the night waiting for me to get home and the guy I really liked was with someone else!

We had dinner at a really cool restaurant with Drag performers on stage. Prom was OK, but we had the most fun eating beignets and drinking coffee at Cafe Du Monde and then going to the riverwalk.

No alcohol, but some broken hearts.