Well, it’s official!

Kevin is taking his girlfriend to her prom in Long Island.

I think that I’m more excited about it than he is. Kevin always keeps a calm, low-key demeanor about most anything exciting that is happening in his life… that’s just how he is and where I pick up the slack.

He is also the king of leaving everything for the last-minute, which always seems to include a lot of running around for all of us.

After a long weekend of doubles,which also included driving around with an 80 pound pig, (see that post for details) I found myself driving Kevin to Men’s Wearhouse to pick out a tux, with only days to spare before the prom.

I was shocked to discover that renting a tuxedo starts at two hundred and fifty dollars. Holy shit! Have I been living under a rock?

Maybe I have or I just haven’t ever had the need to rent a tuxedo or to date a man who wears one, for that matter…

Anyway, after style, color selections and much measuring, we had finally narrowed it down to a black tux with a single button jacket and pink accents to match Kevin’s girlfriend Anna’s pink gown.

“Do you want to wear a cummerbund?” Devin (our sales clerk asked).

“What’s a cummerbund?” Kevin asked, as if he had never heard the word before, while confirming that he most definitely hadn’t.

“A cummerbund goes around your waist.” I stated, “Why don’t you just go with the vest?”

“They call it a crumb catcher.” Devin added.

“I won’t need that.” Kevin replied, with a serious expression.

Devin and I both laughed. I admit I was feeling quite giddy about the whole prom thing and seeing my son in his first tux.

“Mom, can you calm it down a bit.” Kevin suggested, as if my excited mood was embarrassing him.

“Would you like argyle socks?” The sales clerk inquired, “They’re twenty dollars extra.”

“Twenty dollars for a pair of socks?” I laughed, “You’ve got to be kidding me! No, No…we don’t need argyle socks.”

The clerk handed Kevin a shirt, stock tuxedo and a pair of shoes to try on as he pointed him towards the dressing room.

Devin and I talked, joked and exchanged stories while we waited for Kevin to get changed.

Devin walked to the dressing room door and passed something over to Kevin.

“What’s this for?” Kevin shouted out.

“It’s to put on when you try on the dress shoes.” Devin replied.

“What?” Kevin said.

“Kevin, it’s a ped. You know, what you put on your foot to try on shoes… remember you and your brothers pulled them over your faces in Payless Shoes when you were little… you looked like you were going to rob the place…”

Devin was cracking up.

“Mom, can you take it down a notch, please.” Kevin yelled from the dressing room.

When the door finally opened and I saw Kevin in his tux, I couldn’t believe the handsome man who stood before me.

“Kevin, you look gorgeous!” I said with tears in my eyes, “The next time we’ll be doing this there’ll be wedding bells.”

“Mom, please don’t start crying.” Kevin pleaded.

Before finalizing our transaction Devin gave us a thirty dollar discount on the rental.

I paid for the tux (minus the argyle socks). Devin printed our receipt and explained the pick up and return instructions.

We had just enough time to get Kevin to work and I was quite pleased with all we had manged to accomplish in a short time.

As I pulled up in front of Kevin’s place of employment and put the car into park, Kevin leaned over and gave me a tight hug.

“Thank you Mom for paying for my tux. I love you so much.”

“I love you too Kevin. It was my pleasure. You and Anna are going to look beautiful!”

As, I watched Kevin walk into work, I thought, two hundred and fifty dollars isn’t expensive for a tux… in fact, it’s worth every penny.