The title of this post was a text I recently sent to one of my friends who is a senior in college and to remind you that I am neither in high school or college anymore so this on every account was a strange text to send.
In the last post I wrote I shared that I would be writing about another event that we recently attended… Well… Here it is.
I am going to tell you a story about the best prom in the world today!
In March we attended the Kansas City Down Syndrome Guild’s annual prom. It is put on every year. They spend a year planning it and putting it together and the catch to this prom is that it is completely free. There is a meal and a night of dancing and all just because they can. It is such a beautiful event for all of these reason but the real beauty in it are the people that they are throwing this party for.
Alex and Tony Dancing the night away
It is a prom that is specifically for those with special needs.
It is a huge prom and is held at the Overland Park convention center in Kansas City.
It is a prom that is full of nearly 600 individuals with special needs and they all have a night where they feel so amazing and special. The girls dress up in amazing gowns and the guys rent tuxes. Some come with dates, some with care givers some with friends and then some come alone but make friends along the way at night.
It is such a night that is full of beauty.
Sara and her beautiful smile
The people who attend have a night where there is no pressure to have a boyfriend or girlfriend, no rivalries happening about who looks the best, there is not prom king or queen, (because they are all kings and queens), there is no expectations of anyone to be anything other than who they are. It is such a refreshing and fun experience.
The students and staff of my program attended but I however attended with Jeremy who will is my long standing prom date.
I was his date last year, this year and really from this point on wherever I am in life I will come back and be Jeremy’s prom date.
Me and Jeremy before leaving the house… isn’t he so handsome!!! Say yes… because he is.
Jeremy loves going and running errands for prom with me before hand, he loves putting on my corsage and then loves loves dancing the night away.
This was us dancing. This is one of our most used dance moves… we are pretty amazing.
The prom begins at 6:30 and ends the late hour of 9:30 pm, (we want to make sure we don’t have anyone turning into pumpkins and all), but is is three hours that is filled with such excitement and joy.
As you walk around the dance floor random people with all kinds of special needs run up and want to dance with you, and you feel like such a special picked person to be singled out by this person and to receive all the joy in the world from them. It is beautiful to see the girls all around the floor in their sparkling dresses feeling as beautiful as they are, and the guys feeling like such gentlemen.
There are also an abundance of volunteers everywhere and these volunteers are literally there to dance with these people and make it the most unforgettable night of their lives and they do such an amazing job at it, but most of them are high schoolers which is an entirely different beauty to behold. These students whose proms will be filled with all kinds of drama and selfishness,(at least my proms were that and until this it was all I had to go off of), coming to a prom that is all but selfish.
This years theme was a royal affair and Jeremy wanted to sit and be the king, so we did and he was even surrounded by girls and loved it so much.
In some of the circles that I am a part of everyone works hard to find a way to make it to this prom and to enjoy the sites of all of these people getting such a special night set aside for them.
This prom has forever changed my definition of what a prom should be and more so, beauty, and not simply because of the amazing magnitude of the prom, the amazing decorations, the incredible food, but because of the lengths that those who organize it and put it on go to make this the most amazing night ever for each individual with special needs that attends.
I will never be the same because of the sheer beauty of this prom and the beauty of those who attend, a single night of dancing the night away helped me understand true beauty in a way I never imagined. It made me understand that beauty is truly more than a standard but a way of living, a life lived in joy and one where one dances because they can.