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The pandemic has hijacked another high school tradition — prom. It would have been a big happening right about this time of the spring, and there would have been all sorts of prep — zoomed-in close encounter photos of friends and couples bonding, corsage and boutenir pinnings … those pre-prom poses. Time capsule moments of the bomb variety — as in disaster or picture perfection. TikTok? Hmmmmm … Not always.

In the days when there was no social media, those shots from instamatic, cube-flashing plastic cameras, and later, gasp, digital, still had to be developed at a store first to see the results of those carefully candid and posed shots. Then the thumbing through and tossing of those less flattering was a rite of passage. There were no edit or filter buttons.

But those pre-prom moments, with slight variations over the years, have always been a prom night ritual. Most were captured on front lawns. Some were in-house, from basement dungeon rec to formal living rooms. Some were big group gatherings with a fancy limo and driver waiting. Others were casual flops on the couch in gowns and tuxes, jalopies and wood-paneled wagons warming up in the driveway.

And the dresses … Girls of decades back went from looking like Gunne Sax fashion rejects from a Moonie wedding to pastel polyester-draped princesses of the Farrah Fawcett Wannabe Club. But, hey, they were all keeping up with what now seem like Fright Fest trends of the era. The prom-goers of more recent years had far more attractive get-up aspirations — more like the creme of the fashion forward at a red carpet event.

Hey, the gals of the great Farrah generation had that flip hairdo. Let’s not even bother to bring the Dorothy Hammill do into this. None finer than those do’s except a don’t. Don’t try this at quarantine-time home.

If you do, though, send photos.

A lot happened in those pre-prom times that was about a lot more than the outfits, coifs and transport. Snafus. Corsage pin stabbings and other awkward moments. Cars stalling before leaving. Heels getting stuck in a driveway crack. Unraveled hems. Name it. Tell us about your finest pre-prom moment and most awkward or awful. Spill. And do send pics.

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