SENIOR PROM: A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

Valerie Todt was positively glowing for the week before her senior prom.

"I'm just so excited," she said. "I want everything to be perfect."

Todt and her date, Jeff Grimes, attended the prom last year, but this year would be different, Todt promised.

"Last year was Jeff's prom, and we had fun and all, but it was his friends there and his class and I wasn't really that excited about it," she said. "This is my prom. My friends will be there. I will have helped design the room -- it is exciting."

Grimes, a student at Fontbonne College in St. Louis, helped his girlfriend make arrangements during his weekends home in Cape Girardeau. But by far Todt did most of the legwork.

On the Thursday before the May 14 prom date, she stopped by Precious Memories in Jackson to pick up Grimes' tuxedo.

"I just hope it fits him alright," Todt said. "He's not going to get in (to Cape Girardeau) until late Friday (May 13), so if alterations have to be made they're going to have to do it first thing in the morning on the day of prom."

She had bought her dress at the same store several months earlier.

"I had looked in a lot of stores for the perfect dress," said Todt. "I just kept coming back to the same one. So finally in March my mom and I decided to buy it.

"I wanted to take it home right away and show all my friends, but we had to have a lot of alterations done," she said. "It took months."

But Todt and her dress were reunited a couple of weeks before the big day.

Dress selection is a serious matter, Todt said, especially when there would be more than 100 young women in attendance at the prom.

"The store I bought my dress from has a registry," she explained. "After you buy your dress you sign your name and they won't sell another dress like it to anyone going to the same prom.

"You don't want to end up wearing the same dress as someone else," she said.

The frilly, ruffle-hewn, pastel-colored, floor-length dress of the early- to mid-80s is out. Sleek, sequined, satin, shapely dresses -- the likes as you would see Cindy Crawford wearing to the Oscars -- is in. And the color: Black.

"One of my friends is wearing fushia, another is wearing a multi-colored sequined dress and another is wearing green sequins," she said. "Everyone else -- myself included -- is wearing black ... jet black."

Another arrangement the couple made months in advance were dinner reservations at the Royal N'Orleans restaurant. "We went there last year for dinner," said Todt. "It was wonderful."

Todt did not have much chance to celebrate her birthday May 13, because she knew the next day would start early and end late.

Waking up at the crack of dawn Saturday, Todt headed to the A.C. Brase Arena Building, where she was in charge of decorating the entrance to the dance itself.

Grimes, who was glad to find his tuxedo fit perfectly, was also up with the sun. His mission: To bring helium to fill the hundreds of balloons that would decorate the floor and walls of the building.

After the decorating was done at about 12:15 p.m., it was back home for Todt, who would shower and get ready to have her hair done by a relative.

Across town Grimes washed the car and began getting his things in order as well.

As the afternoon waned, Grimes called upon Todt at her home, as the camera shutters clicked madly.

"Both of our mothers took tons of pictures," said Todt. "I've never smiled so much in my life.

"My dad wasn't that into it though," she said. "He was talking about having to mow the lawn as I was insisting he be in the house when Jeff arrived. I won."

Todt's mother ordered a matching corsage and boutonniere for the young couple, which were appropriately pinned in front of the camera.

But before dinner was to be had, the lovely couple -- both dressed from head to toe in complimenting garb -- headed to a local photography studio for pictures.

Then it was off to the restaurant for about two hours of dining over the finest food in Cape Girardeau.

After the meal the couple finally headed to the Arena Building for the dance itself.

"We didn't get there until about 9 p.m.," Todt said. "Coronation wasn't until 9:30, so we were all right."

During the crowning of Amy Lessmann and Eric Kelly as prom king and queen, the theme song for the prom, "For Just A Moment," was played as the royal court danced in the center of the floor.

"I forgot my camera," Todt lamented. "He (Grimes) was supposed to remind me.

"But my friends took pictures, we had our picture taken at the prom, the studio took pictures -- I think we should have plenty of pictures," she said. "I still wish I had remembered the camera, though."

While at the prom the couple danced, talked to friends and generally "had a wonderful time," Todt said.

Afterward, it was off to a barbecue at a friend's house.

"I got home about 6 a.m. (Sunday), I guess," she said. "We managed to catch a couple of hours of sleep, but not near enough."

The next day Todt helped her boyfriend move his personal belongings to an apartment in St. Louis.

"It was a long weekend," Todt said.

"It feels like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders," she said the Monday after the prom. "I was starting to get really stressed over the whole thing in those last couple of days.

"Now I just need to catch up on my sleep."