Rules for a Successful Stake Dance

Last night was a first for Spencer. Although he's been fourteen for several weeks now, it wasn't until last night that he got the chance to attend his first stake dance.

His older, more mature friend Ryan (a couple months older than Spencer) had been getting him excited and filling him in on all the details of what to expect. Because of these conversations, Spencer had begun talking about the details of his first dance for months.

He planned out when to time his haircut so it wouldn't be too long or too short for the occasion. He worried whether the Bishop would have time to give him his dance card. He worried that they might play the Jonas Brothers which would cause him puke all over his dance partner. You know all those important things when you're fourteen.

It was all such a big deal to him, that when my parents offered to let him come on their cool trip to Canada, that he actually hesitated and had to think about whether he wanted to miss his first opportunity to go to a stake dance. Of course, in the end whale watching in the Pacific won out over the Jonas Brothers, but barely.

Even the Young Men's president added to his anticipation, when he gave Spencer these list of rules that he was expected to follow:

1. Ask
2. Escort her to the dance floor
3. Make eye contact
4. Engage in semi-intelligent conversation
5. Escort her back off the dance floor
6. Make sure you ask at least 7 different girls

After all that anticipation, last night was finally the big night.

He put on his jeans and collared shirt, which I may add that we had to buy for him, just for the stake dances, since shorts are not allowed and he did not own any pants other than his Sunday pants...
and he danced the night away and even managed to surpass rule #6 (can you guess by how much?).

Now if I could just figure out how on earth I have a son old enough to go to a stake dance...