A
reader made a comment a few weeks ago that the Followers had a good system to
keep the kids busy and out of trouble. This is true. We did have a structured
and active social life. I never want to downplay the good things about the FOC.
For
every special occasion, we had a formal dance. The formal dances weren’t too
much different than the Sunday night dances. We had live bands. But for these special occasion dances, most of the
teenaged boys asked a girl to be his date before the event, and both parties
bought corsages/boutonnieres for each other. The girls or their mothers sewed
or purchased formal gowns for each of these occasions.
Almost
as much fun as the dance was the three evenings – Monday, Tuesday, and
Wednesday before the party when the teenagers gathered in the old church
building to decorate. Each party had a theme and a group of teenage girls
signed up to design the theme and purchased the supplies for the party. The
party my friends and I organized was New Years. We went with a black and white
theme, drove to Portland for the supplies we couldn’t find in the storage
cupboards in the back room.
While
all the teens came together for these three evenings, it was just as much for
socializing as for decorating. The boys generally didn’t help decorate unless
they were needed for heavy lifting. Groups of girls created a wall of names –
with the party theme in mind, each teenager’s name was written on a cutout
(boys in one color, girls in another); others put up streamers and wall decor. For the New Years Parties, we blew up hundred of balloons, threw in confetti and candy, and hung three large clear plastic sheets filled with these goodies to be dropped at midnight for the waiting kids.
A
lot of drama could happen at these and other gatherings where dozens of
teenaged boys and girls gathered. New romances sparked, couples broke up or
reconciled, girls argued with their best friends. This church, these teens that
God had destined to be in this place, they were our entire lives and world.
