Strangely, I don’t remember much from my high school prom. I went stag when most of my class had dates, and honestly, the entire social expectations dance wasn’t my thing. However, after years of bullying and ridicule, I had clawed my way back into relevance. I attended to demonstrate that they would not browbeat me into ‘outsider’ submission, much like my private version of Pretty In Pink. At least that’s the story I tell myself in my head today. Truthfully, I did not have this level of self-awareness when I graduated; it gradually developed over the years.
One conversation I remember from that night came from my friend’s date, a college student. He lamented that although he had turned 19 years old, he was disallowed from drinking alcohol. Specifically, the legal drinking age in the US wasn’t always 21; for many years, and in many states, it was 18. To retain its federal funding, Florida also made this transition to 21.