Funny Guy Friday... A sign of the times?

     Funny Guy Friday is written each week by my husband Mark. So, I married a funny guy...
     Soooo, sometimes I get it right.
     I don't want to gloat or anything, but I was right. Right as all get out! That is not gloating, is it? Because I wouldn't want to gloat.
     I really don't even want to tell this story, but there are two reason why it must be told. First, there are some dads that might find themselves in a similar situation with their sons. They need to know how to handle it.
     And second: I was right!  
     So, it all started with Matthew asking if he could take a date to the Homecoming Dance.
     The answer, of course, was no.
     In an interesting turn of events, I was the gentle no, and Cheryl was more of the Hell no... no way... not in this lifetime... you are only fourteen... you have got to be kidding me! 
     Now if you know Cheryl, you know she did not really say that... but she wanted to! What she really said was how are you gonna go on a date? What, are you going to go pick her up on your bike? That is silly!
     As I mentioned, I took a gentler approach. Look, I am saving you from yourself. If you had to go on an actual date, the girl would figure out that you were a chucklehead in the first fifteen minutes. I go on dates with your mother, and even we have nothing to talk about after appetizers. Talking with a girl for any period of time is awful! 
     Okay, maybe I was not as gentle as I had thought.
     As the weeks passed, we began to have a slight change of heart.
     We... and by we, I really mean I... thought it would not be such a bad thing if he took a girl to the dance, but if... and only if... he were to go with a group of friends. Not so much a date as an outing with friends... an outing where you don't really have to give the person you go with exclusive one-on-one attention for an entire evening.
     As I think about it... I wish I could go on one of these types of dates.
     I digress.
     Cheryl was still pretty steadfast... no dating under any circumstance. Too young... too much drama! But she agreed that going in a group is okay.
     When Matthew decided on the girl he wanted to ask, he obediently sought the final blessing. I arrived home last Friday, and he once again asked if he could go to the Homecoming dance. I spelled out the "group of friends" rule once again. I told him that the girl had to understand this or he would not be going. He said he understood, so I inquired as to when he was planning to ask her.
     I was going to ask her at lunch, but a friend of hers said I should wait until she comes into the stadium at the football game. 
     Have you figured out what you are going to say?
     This is when he dropped the bomb.
     I am going to make her a sign.
     Say what?
     A sign; everyone does it. It is kind of a big deal for the girl, so she can have some memento to keep. 
     Stupid. Why do these girls need a memento? What do these girls expect in a few years when it comes time for the prom? Better yet, what is a guy supposed to do when he asks a girl to marry him? No... no signs. Are you sure she is going to say yes? And what if she wants to say no? Then she has the pressure from the sign. No. No signs. 
     This brought me back to last spring when I learned about the sweeping phenomenon called the "promposal."
     A promposal is an elaborate plan for boys to ask girls to the prom. It is crazy. I youtubed "best promposals" so I could show my secretary the lunacy, and I found about eight videos. I would start each one and then have to stop it before the big finish because I was embarrassed for these kids.
     After about the fifth time of starting and stopping a video... before the kid could pop the question... my secretary laughed at how I would torture myself by starting each one, cutting it off right before the big finish. I told her it was similar to when you have a sore in your mouth, and you keep touching it to make sure it is still sore.     
     Apparently, the boys use these elaborate schemes for homecoming dances as well.
     Matthew persisted that this is what the girls want. I said no!
     Finally, I relented with this caveat... you can use the sign, but you have to ask her face to face and use the sign as a back up prop that you can give her afterward.
     Agreed. And he was off.
     Well, when he returned home from the game, I was upstairs with Noah, who advised me that she had said no. All I could think of was poor Matthew standing there with that stupid sign. Well, as it turns out, she did not actually say no. Remember the kid who told him to ask her once she came into the stadium at the football game? Well, he asked her in the parking lot.
     All I could think about was poor Matthew standing there with that stupid sign.
     I was kind of obsessed with that stupid sign.
     So there you have it... I was right and I should have stuck by my guns. Wish that I were wrong, but I was right. Right as you can be.
     Matthew still disagrees. You see he gave his sign... along with the roses he purchased on the way... to three different dudes who successfully snagged dates to the dance. I still stand by my assessment of the situation... poor Matthew standing there with that stupid sign. 
     Well, it turns out that there is a happy ending to this story for Matthew.
     The young lady had a change of heart and decided that she would not go with that kid from the parking lot. Matthew got a second chance and simply walked up to her at her locker after school and asked her... the good old fashioned way. The way it should have been done in the first place.
     So there you have it.
     And the moral of the story... Dad is always right!
     But if you think about it, Cheryl was even more right.
     Perhaps, Matthew should not be going on any dates... under any circumstance. Cheryl should have... somehow... someway... made her position a little bit clearer.
     Oh, I dunno, maybe she could have made me a sign!
     Sure would have saved us all a bunch of drama if she had.