Expectations

     Growing up we are bombarded with images of over the top romance not only shown by adults but by teenagers. Take those signature 80s movies - teen romance is supposed to be grand, bigger than life itself, it sets us up for this expectation for what our lives should be like. Growing up I saw and continue to see romance in everything, it's the biggest flaw of mine. And just as the rest of the generations who grew up watching Rat Pack movies I expected chivalry and grand romance to happen to myself during my teenage years. None of that ever happened. I was never swept off my feet in, never wooed, never saved by the love of a boy. I'm not so much disappointed about those expectations that didn't come true, but the one about prom, on the other hand, has caused me to feel a bit ... sad. If there was one thing I wanted during my teen years, it was to have the ultimate prom. Yes, I've gotten a nice dress. Yes, I'm doing my hair how I wanted. But I never got the most important thing that any girl wants: I never got that date. I didn't get romantically asked out through a grand gesture. I'm not matching with someone like I wanted to, to go along with my 1960s themed outfit. And as cheesy as it sounds, I wanted to slow dance instead of being one of those people standing on the sides of the dance floor while all the couples do, and I wanted to get a picture that is so horrible that I could laugh at in years but remember how happy I was at the time. I know I sound overdramatic and whiny, but I just wish one of my teenage expectations came true. But with prom tomorrow and graduation drawing close, I've come to realize none of that will come true and I'm stuck whining about the fact that high school pretty much sucked. It was nothing like I expected, nothing like what I wanted, and I couldn't be more excited for it to be ending. I'm not excited for prom, very excited for graduation, and absolutely thrilled to be starting my life very soon. Only this time, for college I've got no John Hughes movies to influence the expectations I've yet to have.