Mommy's Famous!

Well, maybe not F A M O U S, but probably as famous as a girl is gonna get in a normal lifetime. I will take it. But let's get down to the story, because frankly if I don't record it, i am going to forget how it all went down...now that I am getting older.

So, 5 years ago, my friend Betsy thought it would be fun to get all dressed up in old prom dresses, go to dinner at Buca di Bepo and go dancing afterwards. Considering I didn't have any of my old prom dresses, I was able to squeeze into a dress I wore in my friend's wedding 8 years prior. Not bad for being 4 months pregnant. Thanks to Spanx. Sorry for squishing you Jimmy. Anyway, here is our little "prom" photo. I bestowed the Queen title on myself to disguise my baby bump. Although Betsy was the actual "Queen."

Anyway, what followed were 4 more proms held at church, raising money for various charities and families in our parish. Fun times with a DJ, lots of friends and dancing. Did I mention that we also always went to dinner beforehand? Dressed up? We were having fun times. One year there was an article in the paper about our prom, a news station did a little video one year . Last year prior to the prom, a few of us dressed up on a Sunday morning and had us a little interview at Fox 2. It wasn't much, considering it was on at 8am. Then this year, Betsy contacted the AP. A few of us met with a reporter before the prom, thinking no big deal. Gretchen & I threw the kids in the nursery, putting the 6 year olds in charge and spoke with the reporter. He mostly wanted to chat with Betsy, we were just there since we have been to most of the proms and we were available. We all kind of laughed...It will be a slow news day if papers pick this up on a Tuesday. He said he'd come to the prom with a camera guy and take some pictures and video to go along with his article. Big deal. Gretchen & I didn't seem to be too wild about seeking him out to say "Hi" and get our pictures taken. Although plenty of other girls were all too happy to seek out the camera (if you know what I mean).

Kristen (looking fab), Kate (sporting Ebay fashions), Gretchen (wearing a dress from 1990), Monica (wearing a dress her sister wore in a wedding in the 90s) and Kirste (also looking fab but with giant disco hoops).

Kate posing with our NEW man, Antonio...don't I look like I could be his Spanish Lover?

We had a great time dancing and raising money. Clean up went quickly. On to 2012. Not so much. Remember that little interview we did? That following Tuesday, must have been a slow news day. Charlie Sheen and his Goddesses, the unrest in the Middle East/North Africa, gas prices, potholes weren't enough for the world. They needed MOM PROM. Early in the morning, I got a note from my cousin that I was in the NY Times. What the heck? It was picked up by pretty much every major newspaper in the US and all over the world. It was nuts. This article became more popular on Yahoo than Charlie Sheen for a little bit. Really? I was having fun with my fame and our friends and family were having fun giving me a hard time.

Oh, but it ALL got better. Betsy was contacted by the Gayle King Show (Oprah's BFF). She did a Skype interview with her. Then the Early Show and Good Morning America contacted her. GMA wanted to do a pretty in depth piece on it and wanted to come to film us the following Saturday. So, we trudged on to church with our prom gowns in hand for our 15 minutes of fame. GMA sent anchorwoman, JuJu Chang to interview us. She couldn't have been more personable and genuine. Really. Not at all what I expected. She could have been one of us. Well, she was for 5 hours. They were taking shots of us in our "street clothes" spinning around and then once we were dressed in our dresses, we did the same thing (so we'd be like Wonder Woman, spinning into our dresses). Some of the girls had dresses that had a real story to them, which was cool. I was wearing the dress I paid $20 for on Ebay, but I was rocking a banana clip and jewelry from the 90s, paired with black lace fingerless gloves. They had us group together and say "We're the Moms from the Mom Prom...Good Morning America!" We also walked down the runway in our gowns for various shots. The HHT Foundation was in vast numbers too, lots of supporters and kids. It was fun. The producer and camera guy were great to work with. They made it fun for us and I think they had fun too. In fact, at one point, the producer told us that she was originally from the area and that she felt great about doing a piece on something good for a change.

Juju & Me

Betsy, Father Pat & Juju

Betsy strutting her stuff on the runway

I missed a birthday party for the kids of our dear friends for the taping, but it was worth it to do something like that. Really, when would I ever have the chance to be part of something like that. See how those things work. Later that night, Kurt and I were in bed watching SNL. After all of the hoopla of the week's events, I thought, they aren't going to do a sketch about it. It's not that big of a deal. Then Weekend Update came on. I about fell out of bed when I saw the bit about Mom Prom. In fact, I screamed and it woke up Jimmy. That Seth Meyers is a real funny guy. Really, Seth? The guy laying next to me doesn't seem to have a problem with it. REALLY?

On Monday, the Early Show filmed a small group of us at Betsy's making tissue flowers and talking about our plans for the 2012 prom. It wasn't as elaborate as the GMA piece, but it sounded like they were going to incorporate this interview in with Betsy's sister's prom they are planning in April. Afterwards we had a short phone interview with the GMA producer to wrap things up for Thursday's airing of the piece. While I wouldn't say that i have a problem communicating (I don't), I probably have more of a problem with polished speech. I get easily flustered trying to make a point when I am asked a question that I don't have a canned answer to. Now, I never had a real problem when I interviewed for jobs or when I need to chat to a group of people. But put a microphone in my face and I sound like a midwestern valley girl. Too many Likes and Ya Knows. I laughed afterward, thinking back to a time in 1991 after a cheerleading competition and the presenter asked me a question and I said something so idiotic that my girlfriends STILL pick on me about it 20 years later. Ask them about elemen-TARRY children. I am sure Cas has it on a tape somewhere along with me breaking my ankle. Anyway, I came home and felt sick to my stomach, praying that they didn't use the footage of what I said. Not only did I sound bad, I am sure that me pretending Gretchen was Juju Chang didn't help matters. Well, prayer works people...because they didn't use it. They did use what I said in an article on ABCs website. Unfortunately, Betsy was credited with my "Katy" speak of:

"You always need girlfriends in your life," Crapps said. "Kind of like in high school you depended on your friends, but I don't think you really realized in high school how much you would need really close girlfriends … as you age, you almost need them more."

Now if Betsy really said that, she would have said "as we get older" because it sounds better and she has great poise when she's on the spot. Nope. Not me. I need to say something un-eloquent. Sorry Betsy.

Anyway, Thursday morning rolled around and I really had kind of a big pit in my stomach. Not only anticipating me saying something dumb, but what was I thinking? I strutted my stuff in a super ugly dress (that even in 1990 I would not have worn, I was much more classy) with my hair piled on the side in a banana clip and black fingerless gloves. Seriously, this is national TV. I have no shame when it comes to being silly in front of my girlfriends and their friends, but this is GMA! People will be judging. People will see this and think we are wackos. How will they spin the piece? At one point, it sounded like they were taking it in the direction that we moms wanted to feel pretty and dress up for a night out. Which, sort of yes, but do you really feel pretty prancing around in a dress that is 25 years old and doesn't fit right with hair and makeup that is not from this century? It was more about the charity of it all and "putting our gowns to good use." But what was done was done. I had to just go with it. When the segment came on, the kids got so excited. When they saw me for the first time, they both shrieked. Jimmy jumped up and down and said, "You are famous, Mommy! There you are!" as he was hanging on to me. So sweet. He really thought that it was a big deal. For the past week and a half, I had been going to Mom Prom interviews, decorating, the actual prom, the taping and the other interview. They both probably think that Mom Prom is normal. They both think that prom is MOM PROM not for high school kids. That is the best. Anyway, the piece was great, they really captured the story so well. Betsy asked me to bring pictures of our past proms, so I gave them about 80 pictures, along with a few from my actual proms. I saw MY pictures pop up on screen from proms past. It was great! But then I saw my little 17 year old self popping up around the map of the US marking spots where Mom Proms are being planned for 2011. I about choked. That periwinkle mermaid style was the bomb....19 years ago. They photoshopped out my date, but there I was in my prom pose. The segment was great! I hope that people watched it and really thought of this as a great way to raise money for causes that mean alot to them. I hope that this becomes something moms do for fun, because it IS fun! I felt proud to fly my freaky flag in the name of charity.

So it has been a crazy 2 weeks. Who would have thought that we'd get all this publicity? I have had fun with it, making sure to mention here and there to Kurt, that I am famous. Or when I can't do something around the house, that i haven't had time, because I am famous. When the dog barks, is it the paparazzi? It's all in fun. I know that I am still just a mom & wife like everyone else. I really DO NOT think i am famous. I don't expect people to stop me in Meijer. But I am sure that many saw the story and enjoyed the lightheartedness of it and goodness that it represented. There is so many sad and heavy things going on in our world...this lightened things up a bit for 3 minutes. It is great to see something positive in the media about the Catholic Church for a change. Betsy really has done a lot to make this event great and she works hard to get the word out on this. She is the one that deserves all the kudos, i am just a worker bee. But I have had fun going along the ride with her. I am kind of glad that it all has died down though. If i felt like it was starting to get to be too much, i can only imagine how she was feeling. We have worked our 15 minutes like no other. I think I can safely take my cotton candy pink and black lace dress to the dry cleaner now. Maybe I should list it on EBAY...as seen on TV!