Our daughter, Ali, attended her senior prom last week. She woke up early, before her friend, Ashley, arrived. Their first appointment of the day was to have their nails done. They then had their hair and make-up done at 3:00 PM. She was supposed to be dressed and ready to go at 5:10 PM because we were meeting an entire group of kids and parents at a local park to take pictures. There’s a fountain there and the kids thought it would provide a nice background. Ali’s boyfriends mother would be there, too, of course.

At 4:45 PM, Ali still had not returned from getting her hair done. When I called her cell phone, I heard it ringing in the other room. She’d left it behind by mistake. At 5:00 PM, still no Ali. Just as I was about to have an anxiety attack, they pulled into the driveway. (Yes, I’d been waiting outside for her.) We rushed inside and she put her dress on in a flash. I fixed the pin on the front while she re-curled one wayward lock of hair. I don’t know how she managed to do it but we were out the door by 5:15 PM. As we walked out, we noticed a huge, black wall of clouds rolling in from the southwest. Oh NO!!!

Richard drove as fast as he legally could while Ali videotaped the storm out the back window of the truck. Yes, it was that impressive! We arrived and jumped out. (Well, it was a bit trickly for Ali to jump in those heels.) We met Matt and his mom and we hurried to the fountain. But…the city hadn’t filled it up for the season. It was empty and not spouting any water at all. So, we chose a bridge instead. Matt’s mother and I hurried and fired off shots with our cameras, praying the raindrops would hold off for just another couple of minutes.

Ali pretended to be pinning on Matt’s boutonni