senior adult prom

Yes, though we are neither seniors nor adults (well, 2 of us), we went to our church's Senior Adult Prom last Friday night.  I was skeptical.  Though at the last minute some info went out that everyone at the church was welcome, it was still intended to be for senior adults, with youth "chaperones."  Which is totally cool, but not necessarily appropriate for my small but rambunctious family.  But My Man was DJ'ing the event and it was the kids' only chance to see him that day, so we went, with me thinking we wouldn't stay long.

As it turns out, we were the ONLY young family there.  Not surprising, but I had told the kiddoes I thought there'd be a couple other young ones around.  And when we got there, it was quite a bit like walking into a middle school dance.  Lots of standing around, staring at one another, afraid to touch the food until someone says OK, and definitely no dancing on the dance floor.  Goodness gracious, and we were expecting these lifelong Baptists to dance?!?  What were we thinking?

Even my usually out-going, no-holds-barred Girl was infected by the middle school mania.  She would not dance.  Not even her signature moves!  So instead she climbed on chairs.  And Daddy when he wasn't playing music.  And me.  And whatever else she could climb on.  Oh, and she ate, as did The Boy.  They ate and ate and ate.  Heck, they put the food tables right out where everyone could get to them!  I lost count of the times I wiped food off the floor or caught food coming out of mouths when it wasn't what they expected. 

So let me repeat - I was skeptical.

But then something happened.  Some of the senior couples started dancing among the tables.  Not on the dance floor, mind you, but among the tables.  And then so did my kids.  Even the Shy One!  And gradually people moved their way to the dance floor.  By the end of the evening, there was lots of dance floor dancing, and my kids were right in the middle of it.  The Girl spent whole songs in the middle of the spotlight, refusing to share it with anyone else!  And The Boy even joined the cha-cha slide line.  My Boy!  My Reserved-in-public One!  What happened??

What happened was a great and fun time.  And I am so very thankful we went.  We all had a blast, every last one of us.  And you know what - I'm even a little thankful that we were the only young family.  Because those seniors and those youth welcomed my kids with open arms in a way that probably wouldn't have happened if there'd been a posse of the little hellions.  And while I appreciate our church for a number of things, one of the things that I miss about our previous church is the greater inter-generational interaction there.  It was a smaller church with fewer young families, so it was just easier to know and interact with people of different ages.  I miss that.

But I am thankful for this one special night when I was reminded of how great a church for all ages can be.  And how blessed we can be when we cross those invisible barriers sometimes.