Twirly Dresses

Seeing all these heart-wrenching pictures of my Okinawa friends going to homecoming makes me wonder about myself.

Why do I like dances so much, anyway?

It isn't because I always have a date to go with.

And it can't be all the club music and awkward sections of the dance floor.

So what?

I think it's a combination of girly motivations, the highest one being I just love having some excuse to feel pretty.

There's just something about a girl in a dress that makes people treat her just a little differently. 

Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe it's just my stupid imagination that says that. But something about it makes me feel pretty for a couple hours. And as corny as it is, I adore oohing and ahhing over other people's dresses too. So when I gush "You look so pretty!" with everyone else, I really do mean it. 

And of course there is always the faint, distant, ray of hope that some random boy will pay attention to me.

Maybe it's the dress, maybe it's just that I'm a cool person, but somewhere amongst the pounding pop songs there is one slow R&B song, and they pluck up the courage to ask me to dance. 

Lemme tell you. When the right guy asks that, it makes a girl feel like she's the most special darn thing in the world. 

I would give anything to have any and all of those feelings today...in Okinawa.

Sigh. 

I guess it was probably a good call to spend the weekend rock-climbing in the mountains than trying to recreate it with a bunch of kids I have no personal connection to yet.