Middle School Dance

Eli had a blast at last year's dance, so it was of no surprise to me when he opted to attend again. He and Drew would, of course, arrive together. We didn't have to leave for the dance until 5:15, so there was plenty of time after school to shower and get dressed. For a middle school boy, this takes all of 10 minutes. With the remaining time, Eli and Drew played golf in the yard (and they may have fished a ball or two out of the creek.)

This year his class of boys met up at a nearby house for dinner before walking to the dance together. I got to show up in the middle of that to take pictures of the group of 24 before going to the dance for more photos of the event. I was impressed with how well behaved the boys were, especially considering that they are all 12-13 and there was a pool within arm's reach at all times.

The dance was a lot of fun, but there was more boy-girl 'drama' than last year. While Eli was aware of it, he wasn't a part of it, so he really tried to distance himself from it. As any prying mom would, I asked several different ways for more details the days leading up to and following the dance. As best I can tell, he really doesn't get the whole attraction to 'the chase', and is happy to find another person or group to hang out with when things start to get awkward and angst.

Eli is definitely the class clown...I'm not sure how much of it is him being the funny guy because he wants to be, or if it's a little bit of a defense mechanism for being picked on. I didn't witness any unfriendly interactions, but Eli's friends are all quickly growing taller and their voices are getting deeper. Unfortunately for him, he is not following their lead as of yet.