Too Real Thursday: Kay Cassidy and Senior Traditions

Welcome to the first edition of Too Real Thursday, when authors share a moment in their lives that got a little too real for comfort.



First up is Kay Cassidy, author of The Cinderella Society, who was once quite the prankster:



"My high school didn't have a lot of traditions, but many of the traditions we did have seemed to revolve around the end of school. That was especially true Senior year. Our Senior All-Night Party was definitely memorable. It was an all-night lock-in at the high school just for graduating Seniors. Our parents put it on and the school housed things like a swim party, a casino, and tons of other cool stuff. (And food. Mmm, the food.)



"But what was most memorable for me was actually an unofficial tradition. It was called The Senior Last Day of School Shaving Cream Fight in the Parking Lot. Or TSLDOSSCFITPL for short. (I'm totally making that up.) This event always started very innocently in the school parking lot as Seniors were heading to their cars on the last day of school for Seniors. At my high school, Seniors actually got done a day or two before the rest of the student body. I don't know why this was. Anyway, on our last day, we headed to the parking lot and kind of mulled around chatting, waiting for 'the shot heard round the lot.' As soon as someone pulled the first shaving cream trigger, it was a free for all. Everyone would whip out their shaving cream cans from their cars and try to completely cover anyone within shooting distance. Nothing was sacred – people, bikes, cars. It was all fair game.



"The reason I remember this so vividly (other than this picture which, no, you may not use as blackmail, thankyouverymuch) is that the year I graduated was the year that baby oil foam was introduced. (Is that even still around?) So a lot of people had baby oil spray cans instead of shaving cream cans. Which didn't strike me as a problem until I went home and tried to shower off all the shaving cream foam. Did you know baby oil foam is very… oily? You probably guessed that from the name. If you did, you are officially more on the ball than I apparently was. Imagine having a layer several inches thick of baby oil foam in your hair and trying desperately to shampoo it out before a big event.



"Did I mention our last day was followed by Prom? I didn't? That's probably because I've blocked that horrible fact from my mind.



"I had to wash my hair so many times I thought it would fall out and I would forever be known as That Bald Girl at the Prom Whose Hair Was Shinier Than Her Dress (and this was the 80s, so my dress was WAY shiny). Even with all that lathering, rinsing and repeating, my hair still had an unnatural sheen to it when I donned my prom dress. Thank goodness I have all those nice prom pictures to preserve that little nightmare."



What about you? What's your most recent Too Real moment?

11 comments:

Sara said...

Kay, I just want to see a photo of you in your prom dress! Hugs, SaraBW

Micol Ostow said...

Love that pic, Kay! Sounds like you and your friends had a ton of fun. I wish we'd done more wild and crazy things like that when I was high school, but my friends and I were not the wild and crazy types...

Kay Cassidy said...

Sara - LOL. I'll have to dig one out and show you when I see you next. :-)

Micol - Ha! Don't let this experience fool you. My friends and I were super laidback in high school. I can count on one hand the number of high school parties I ever went to - most of the time I just hung out with my friends, went to midnight movies... heck, most of my cheerleading team skipped the Homecoming dance my junior year and hung out at my house watching an SNL marathon instead. LOL The shaving cream tradition was something I never would have thought of on my own. I was just participating like the rest of my class, much to my hair's dismay. :-)

Lisa Schroeder said...

I love that you have a photo to remember the moment. So often those kinds of things don't get photographed.

You look like you were a very good sport. A better sport than I would have been. :)

Anonymous said...

I'm with Sara on this one. I need to see those prom pics! :-)

Lindsey Leavitt said...

Love this story, love the pic. I want to see the prom dress, fo shizzle.

Kay Cassidy said...

Lisa - Aww, thanks. It was actually a blast and--had it not been for the ill-fated prom hair--I would remember all of it uber-fondly.

Sarah and Linds - Ha! Someday I shall unveil it. Wait! I already did! I forgot I blogged about it on Jen Nadol's blog during a fun group tour we did back in May called the High School Flashback Tour. Here's the link:
http://www.jennadolbooks.com/blog/?p=2793

Kay Cassidy said...

And to the ever-darling Melissa Walker... thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of Too Real Thursday! I had a blast, doll! :-)

Emily Wing Smith said...

PROM PICS! PROM PICS!

Melissa Walker said...

Super fun to have you, Kay! Thanks!

Erika Powell said...

hahaha i want to see that prom pic too! we did water balloon fights on the last day for seniors, much easier to clean than shaving cream

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