My Prom Checklist

May 2, 2013 at 9:11 am · Filed under stories and tagged: Crabapple Trees, family, high school, Prom, Senior Year, Tree

< by Ann >

Pink Dress: Check – a fun experience for all. My Mom was in “Say Yes to the Dress” heaven as I twirled and frolicked like the giddy, bedazzled teenager I was.

Unfortunate tan lines from track uniform: Check

Pink Shoes: Check

Up-do Hair: Check – done by a talented friend whose motto was: “Friends Don’t Let Friends Go to Dances Ugly”

Photo backdrop: Check – a perfectly color-matched crabapple tree in full bloom.

Our family’s beloved crabapple tree wove itself into many family experiences. Its fragrant blossoms scented many bus stop pickups and walks of passersby. Its branches held our lit Halloween pumpkins and plastic Easter eggs, and supported us as we learned to climb trees.

Since my Mom was gaga about Prom, my dress, and its matching blossoms, she decided to plant a second crabapple tree in the yard. To mark this occasion she named it the “The Prom Tree.”

I’m sad to report that the original crab apple tree met its Maker after being struck by lightning and eventually “The Prom Tree” died of natural causes. The memory of the Prom Tree, however, lives on as I have taken cues from my mother and started naming plantings in my life.

In my garden you will find: “First Birthday Oak Tree,” “Fancy Grass from the Weird Students,” “Plant Sale Raspberries,” “(My Zimbabwean Friend) Beauty’s Apple Tree,” “Found at the Compost Site Sedum,” and “The Semi-Stolen Hostas.”

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