High school rites of passage don’t seem to change much over the years. As it’s been for generations before, the prom is still a magical evening when seniors dress up, invite dates, gather friends, maybe rent a tuxedo, and make plans to mark their elegant entry into young adulthood. I’m obviously biased, but our young men are really handsome in their suits! Natural and light in long flowing gowns is the trend of the time, and I think this generation knows as much about elegance as anyone ever did. Although maybe not the cigars…

Springtime in DC means a Lincoln Memorial buzzing every weekend with high school students dressed for Prom. We ride our scooters to the Mall in the evenings, and it’s always a joyful scene of ladies and gentlemen flocked on the steps, wearing tuxes and getting dropped off with their friends. They gather before Lincoln and pose in front of the Reflecting Pool, and it’s the best time, really, to be a parent with a camera, because nobody is giving parents a second thought.

On Jake’s and Eli’s prom night we are invisible in plain site, and the kids are only too happy to turn our way and smile. I hope they will later remember the glamour in the pictures that they’re feeling in themselves tonight!

This weekend is the start of the whirwind; a whirlwind of regattas every Saturday, crew practice, graduation deadlines, driving tractors, building fences, Memorial Day, the Eastern shore, final IB exams, college acceptances, grad parties, a last minute trip to the UK, and looking for summer jobs. Not the last summer or the last whirlwind, not the last of anything at all.

More like, putting the final touches on the high school chapter, and taking these pictures to remember that high school in Arlington was pretty cool!