At 6, I Promised My Best Friend with Down Syndrome We’d Go to Prom Together – 12 Years Later, Mom Said I Could Go with Him Only on One Condition

“Somebody will love Noah.”

But I could see Noah was upset.

Later, after class, he looked at me with serious eyes.

“Chrissy… would you… love me?”

I considered it for a moment.

“Maybe I will,” I said.

Noah immediately looked up.

“Really?”

I suddenly realized I had talked myself into a very serious situation.

“Maybe.”

“Chrissy… would you… love me?”

He considered that.

Then I remembered something my older cousin had been talking about.

“But first we have to go to prom,” I added.

“What’s prom?”

“A dance.”

Noah frowned.

“We have dances now.”

“No. Prom is when we’re almost grown-ups.”

“Oh.” He held out his pinkie. “Promise?”

“What’s prom?”

I hooked mine around his.

“Promise.”

I forgot about it by dinner.

Noah didn’t.

***

Twelve years is a long time for a friendship to survive childhood.

Ours somehow did.

We didn’t always have the same classes. We made other friends. We developed different interests.