All Decked Out

So this past Friday was the night of the 8th Grade Dance, sometimes called the 8th Grade Prom by kids who really want to grow up way too fast. It's a reward dance for 8th graders who do not go over 25 discipline points; in other words, pretty much the good kids.

Mrs. Language and I signed up to work the dance because it really is a nice dance - really pretty decorations, cake, punch, the kids get all "P-Diddied Out" (in the words of Mrs. Cool). Besides, it's fun to see how our little 7th graders grow up . Heck, sometimes its hard to even recognize them.

So we went out to supper, got dressed up ourselves (although I still come across as a bit more granola than I wanted, but when the only decent shoes you own are Birkies...) and enjoyed ourselves at the dance. The kids looked wonderful even if they were annoyed that they still had to follow dress code (no spaghetti straps ladies!) .

Metal Kid (one of my favorite students from last year who is a die-hard Iron Maiden fan and who I love to talk music with) came, and brought one of the nicest, and smartest, girls around - probably the only girl we had last year who wasn't boy-obsessed and insane about clothes. It was nice to see them all dressed up and acting a tad bit grown up for 14-year olds.

It was fun. It's also somewhat bittersweet when you realize that you probably won't see many of these kids again unless you run across them in town or if they come visit from High School.

And that, to be truthful, is just a tad sad.