A Feminine Touch

The other week I was sitting around at home, trying to decompress from a rough day at the office. While I love my job, the newspaper business can be stressful, what with deadlines and a readership in the hundreds of thousands. But we were headed to the weekend and a significant one at that, for our daughter’s senior prom was that Saturday.

Talk about stress! The days leading up to the prom were riddled with daughter-imposed stress, but, admittedly, once you hit go-time, it’s kind of exciting.

Anyway, just when I thought I was done with the last prom this family would have to go through, my wife told me that we had to help set up and decorate the prom venue. I guess the parents of seniors were “volunteers.”

I suspected it was a given for the mothers on the committee, but why was my wife was dragging me along so I could participate in the experience? Well, there was no way I was going to talk my way out of it, so I decided to go with the flow. Besides, I figured they might need some men to unload trucks or to set up tables and chairs.

When we got there, I immediately noticed a lack of males, and the place was buzzing with ladies setting up elaborate decorations. The theme had something to do with Cinderella, so there were all kinds of lights and ribbons and props, including a pumpkin coach nestled among white lampposts. It looked like a movie set and the place was impressive.

My wife immediately jumped into the fray, and I looked around for something I could help with. My wife found me wandering and grabbed my hand and led to me to where the ladies were assembling table favors. They had battery-operated tea candles in delicate white boxes with doily-cut prince and princess pictures on them. They were tied up on top with a ribbon.

I was instructed to tie the ribbons on top with a bow. Not one to waste time, I organized my area like an assembly line and methodically started tying the bows. One of the committee chairwomen came by and picked up one of my boxes. She exclaimed how elegant they looked and asked whose “dainty” hands were responsible for the work.

I tried to invoke the Jedi mind trick of invisibility, but all the other ladies pointed to me. I hope our daughter enjoyed her senior prom because my sacrifice was in being ejected from the man club.

rnagasawa@midweek.com