Countless movies have been made about the trials and tribulations of high school. Most of these movies – Heathers, Clueless, Mean Girls, Ten Things I Hate About You, Breakfast Club, and many, many more- make a point of demonstrating that the teenage years are difficult, shallow, drama filled, and in general tend to bring out the worst in people. And, more often than not, these issues will boil over on prom night.
Luckily, not every teen’s prom night (or high school experience in general) is a story of heartbreak and disappointment. Take the real-life story of two childhood friends- Mary Lapkowicz and Ben Moser- who grew up together and eventually became each other’s prom dates.
Even when they were in their single-digits, Mary and Ben were an example of friends who, despite their differences, always got along. Ben was your run-of-the-mill suburban kid. In many ways, Mary was, too. However, she also stood out; Mary has Down syndrome, and as a child, she was always more vulnerable to being bullied or left out. Luckily, her friend Ben had her back.
“He watched over her constantly,” remembered Tracey Spogli, their fourth-grade teacher. “If she was looking like she wasn’t having fun, he would go over and talk to her. He would pull her into whatever activity they were doing. He just always watched out for her.”
That year, when both of them were only nine years old, Ben promised Mary that when they were older, he would take her to prom.
Fast forward seven years, when both were in high school. Ben and Mary were still friends, though they went to different high schools. Ben had grown to be much taller than Mary, and he had become the star quarterback at his school. Mary still remembered Ben’s promise, but she had assumed he’d forgotten.
Then she received a bunch of balloons. Scrawled on them in sharpie was that long-awaited invitation: “Prom?”
“I was surprised,” said Mary. She hadn’t expected to have a date for prom. “I was going to go with some friends.”
Ben and Mary went to prom on May 8th, 2015.
“Today with joyful tears in my eyes and down my face I watch a promise made, seven years ago, to a beautiful girl fulfilled,” Lisa Moser, Ben’s mother, wrote on her Facebook.
She wasn’t the only one touched by Ben’s heartwarming gesture.
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source: Penn Live
