title: The Slow-ripening Fruits of Mothering: Time Out Classics
author:  Emily Watts 
description: Emily Watts is the joyful mother of five children and grandmother of five. Her lifelong fascination with words led her to a career in editing. She has worked for more than thirty-five years in the publishing department at Deseret Book Company, working from home part-time for many of those years so she could be with her family. She is now a senior editor at Deseret Book as well as a favorite Time Out for Women speaker and the author of several books, including Being the Mom: 10 Coping Strategies I Learned by Accident and Confessions of an Unbalanced Woman. Emily and her husband, Larry, live in Taylorsville, Utah
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  ![Cover: Prom Theory, by Ann LaBar](../images/9781534463103.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![Prom Theory by Ann LaBar, S&S Books for Young Readers](../images/title.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _For Kaden for the title and the inspiration._
  
  
  _Emma for the enthusiastic support and funny bits._
  
  
  _Karl for everything._
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](../images/common01.jpg)
  
  
  # Chapter One
  
  
  Monday
  
  
  The fact that my mother and I were going to be only fifteen minutes early to
  school rather than my preferred twenty-five minutes had me noisily chewing
  gum. There was a standard rule against gum in school, but my mother, tired of
  my nervous habit of chewing my shirt sleeve cuffs and collars, had made a
  brilliant argument for granting me dispensation from that hard and fast rule.
  I no longer needed it every day for the anxiety relief it provided, but this
  morning had me reaching for the Juicy Fruit. It was going to be at least a
  three-pack day.
  
  
  “We’re going to be late,” I said. It was imperative that I had some quiet