Two local teens surprised more than just the two girls they asked to go to Junior Prom.

Not realizing the Junior Prom at the high school was taking place last night, I noticed two teenage couples, sitting at a table in the pottery studio, painting and generally just having a good time. I made a comment to the manager about how ‘wholesome’ they seemed, and how endearing it was to witness young people laughing and having fun participating together in an activity such as pottery painting. Their pieces were creative and imaginative. One of the teenage boys was painting a mug commemorating this particular Junior Prom event. The girl he was with had chosen to paint a plant pot with a cute floral design of pastel colors.

After hearing a few tidbits from the manager about the special prom plans the two teenage boys had made as a surprise for the girls, I was so intrigued, I asked them if I could take their pictures, and sit down with them to hear more about how two teenage boys could come up with such a unique and special plan.

Alex Hardy works to make the perfect mug for his date, Rebecca Judd.

They explained that they had planned for weeks to assure the “perfect” day. They set up a card table with four chairs in Snow Canyon Cave, and pre-arranged with a local restaurant to have ‘breakfast for four’ cooked and ready to go. They carefully placed candles on the table to illuminate the cave, and invited the girls to explore the cave with them early Saturday morning. I couldn’t wait to hear the girls tell me about their reaction to such a unique surprise. One of them, Sammi Maxwell, said “I was absolutely speechless and couldn’t say anything!” She further remarked, with an excited smile, “I am bursting to tell everybody at school about the whole special day.”

As I was pondering the uniqueness of the ‘breakfast in the cave idea,’ I glanced at Rebecca Judd, the other girl, as she asked her date, Alex Hardy, how he liked the design of her painted plant pot. There was no doubt in my mind that she was absolutely thrilled to be a part of this special day. “I thought having breakfast in a candlelit cave was cool, and then they surprised us by bringing us to Brushfire Pottery to paint things to help us remember our Junior Prom,” she proudly remarked. Just then, Alex held up his mug that read “Becca and Alex – Junior Prom 2008, in his own fancy lettering style. “What do you think, Becca?” he asked his date. Her bright smile was the only response he needed.

I had a good time telling them about the lack of uniqueness and creativity shown by the boys who took me and my friends to our proms. Pooling money together for a ride in a limousine paled in comparison to what these two special teen boys planned for their dates. I couldn’t resist taking over forty photographs of these young couples…their smiles, their wholesomeness, and the looks on their faces that just screamed “this is the best day ever!” I’m going to send them their pictures to help them remember that imagination and creativity in planning can add a whole new dimension of fun and laughter to this life. After the first few photos, Samantha remarked that she “didn’t mind being photographed because their dates had been taking their pictures all day and she wasn’t even wearing makeup.” To this, her date, Jacob Farr replied, “Naturally beautiful girls like you don’t need makeup to look good,” just as she gently nudged him with her elbow.

Jacob Farr and Samantha Maxwell admire their creative matching mugs to commemorate their junior prom

As the two young couples were leaving the studio, I noticed that Sammi was helping Jacob as he limped to the door. She looked at me and said, “They planned this whole special day for us and he doesn’t even mind that he sprained his ankle in the cave.”

My last thought was yet another memory of my own prom. Every teenage boy planned the same thing for me and my friends. They would all pool their money for the limousine, put a flower on their date’s wrist and have a convenient excuse for not dancing at the prom. They would take all of us to a late-night breakfast at Denny’s and wonder how many months it would take them to earn enough allowance to make up for the cost of the evening. Where were teenage boys like Jacob and Alex when I was a teenager? To this day, I know without question, that if I had experienced a candlelit breakfast in a cave and the painting of commemorative pottery at a fun place like Brushfire on the day of my prom, I would still remember it, even today….nearly thirty years later!

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