Blind Date Revisited

Guest post by C. R.

My wife shared the story of our first date. Now you get to hear my side of that story.

It was at a basketball game that Ginger asked me about the “blind” date with Denise. I'll admit that I was pretty shy in those days. I guess since I was too terrified to ask a girl on a date, someone else figured she should do the asking for me.

We were in Pep Band together and had some of the same friends, so I knew a few things about her (my own list below):

• She was very cute!
• She was part of the debate team and quite good (very intimidating for a science nerd).
• Her father was a high school history teacher and the debate coach. (I had him as a teacher my freshman year – I did well in his class, so I thought that might help my cause.)
• She had a nice brother, a year older than me, that I knew from band.
• She was from a Christian family, like me.

The date was set for a Friday night, a week after Ginger asked me. I grew more nervous as each day passed. I remember passing by Denise at school the week before the date, but we didn’t acknowledge each other or even make eye contact. (I did check her out after she passed, though.)

The night finally came and I got to Ginger’s house after Denise did. Her friends made a big deal about Denise and I wearing the same color shirt and jeans (but that didn’t make me feel any more comfortable). A few hours later, we’d made it through a couple movies and some pizza without speaking to one another. It was awkward sitting on a love seat with a beautiful girl and having no idea what to do or say.

Maybe her friends thought it would help if the movies were terrible and they had a make-out session on the couch.

It didn’t.

After the movies, I thanked everyone for a wonderful evening and headed out to my 1968 light blue F150. As I started it up, I saw Ginger running out the door trying to get my attention. She asked me if I wanted to drive Denise home, since she lived close to my house. I agreed.

I thought, “No harm in another 10 minutes of awkward silence.”

Fortunately, it didn’t work out that way. We finally broke the silence and had a real conversation, the first of many great conversations. There’s more to the story, but I’ll let my wife fill you in later.

I'd just like to take this moment to personally thank Ginger.