A Belated Valentine's Day Dance

Well, Vare Middle School’s Valentine’s Day dance is officially two days away… I’m sure you just paused a moment to check out the date. It is, in fact, 8 days after Valentine’s Day, meaning this dance will be taking place on February 26. Makes perfect sense, right? We had originally scheduled the festivities to take place on a more appropriate date – February 12, to be exact – but record setting snowfalls paid an untimely and unfortunate visit to the Greater Philadelphia area. A few days off from school may have thrilled the students, but my team and I were less than enthusiastic about the idea of prolonging our stress another two weeks.

Yet, here we are, two weeks later, confirming chaperones, hanging banners, building floral arches, inflating countless balloons, and answering endless questions.

“Can I wear high heels?”
“Wait, so you mean I can wear skinny jeans?”
“Will there be a disco ball?”
“Who’s the deejay?”
“Can we do ballroom dancing?”
“Will you play slow songs and party music?”

You’d be amazed at the sheer amount of questions middle schoolers can come up with when given the opportunity. Our heads are spinning, but we also feed off of our students’ excitement. Yesterday, I caught myself thinking that we might actually be able to pull this thing off. But then, I saw the weather report, predicting more snow in the next few days.

Will we survive? The saga continues. Pray for us…

(Erin Reimer)