I went to the county’s first prom of the season last weekend. It’s been 28 years since my own senior prom.

That’s ancient history to the boys and girls who were toasting each other with glasses of punch, snapping photos of their classmates with camera phones and dancing to eardrum-blasting music in the Georgiana High School Auditorium Saturday night.

I can tell I am getting older. I don’t recall the high-heeled sandals I wore that long-ago night bothering me at all, and Benny and I did a lot of dancing (it was the disco era, after all).

Maybe I was just having too much fun to notice.

These days, it’s a race to see which gives out first: my knees, feet, back, or that occasional kink that races from right side down my left leg and temporarily makes me walk like Quasimodo seeking sanctuary. Dancing the night away (if I could get my old prom date to shake a leg these days) is no longer an option.

So, Saturday night, I rested up, wore reasonably sensible shoes and logged in about 45 minutes at the high school, taking photos and managing to talk to a few folks over the throbbing bass beat.

Want to be a popular middle-aged person at a prom?

Wear a newspaper ID badge and carry a camera. Since most people absolutely despise having a photo taken, it is fun to have so many that are ready and willing to be photographed. And, after all, it would be shame not to document a night when all those good-looking young folks are dressed to the nines.

I try to catch those candid moments on the dance floor – the prom king in his crown, getting a peck on the cheek from a proud family member, the girl sitting on the knees of her date while they chat.

Candid shots are not easy when the lighting is so dim because it’s hard to see exactly what I am shooting. Once any of the kids sighted my camera, they were quick to strike a pose and smile for &uot;the newspaper lady.&uot;

We can’t run every one of the dozens of photos I took, but several will be chosen for a picture page that should run in the very near future in the Advocate. It will make a great addition to the Georgiana High seniors’ memory books and I’m sure some proud mamas, daddies and grandparents, et al., will want some copies, too (hint, hint).

I won’t be able to attend my own alma mater’s prom this weekend (I will be covering the Greenville Area Arts Council’s Mexican Fiesta and Silent Auction), but I suspect one of our two Kevins will be present with a camera.

So, Greenville High students, smile pretty! Enjoy your evening – and be safe.

I wish that for all the prom-goers throughout our county.

Angie Long is Lifestyles reporter for The Greenville Advocate. She can be reached at 382-3111 ext. 132 or via email at angie.long@greenvilleadvocate.com.