Listen & Do - The Date

In November of 1993 I was set up on a blind date. It went something like this:

Some friends of the family had mentioned this boy (we really were just kids back then) to me several times. It never really worked out, either he or I were seeing someone.

I recall a particular Friday evening, a week or so before Thanksgiving, this boy's name came up randomly. I worked at the jewelry counter at the local Wal-Mart. The other lady working with me that night was visiting with some people at the other end of the counter, while I was putting away merchandise. I didn't pay any attention to who she was talking to, I have always been task oriented. She walked my way after her conversation had ended and said, "You know, that Telly Jenkins is someone you should go out with." I replied, "Yeah, I've heard of him." That was the end of the conversation. I didn't even get a good look at him.

The very next day the phone at our house rang. It was the son-in-law of the friends of the family I mentioned. He asked if I wanted to go on a date. I told him he was married and that wasn't appropriate. Yes, I have always been coy. "No, no, not me. Telly Jenkins," he said. I didn't have any other plans for that Saturday night during my senior year of high school. After asking my parents permission (I was a good girl), I accepted the invitation.

My friends came by and picked me up. This Telly Jenkins boy was not with them. I remember my Momma and Daddy were not real thrilled about this, but they didn't protest our plans. We drove the forty-five minutes or so to Springfield. The plan was to see a movie and have dinner.

We arrived at the movie complex and waited for this Telly guy and another guy that was coming with him. And we waited. And we waited. And we waited. And we waited. (Note: Remember this for future posts.) It was nearly two hours before the other two boys arrived. I can't remember now exactly why they were so late. I do know we missed our planned showing of "Three Musketeers" so plans had to be changed.

We went to dinner first. Golden Corral. I was so nervous. I ate fruit and gummy bears off the buffet. I had to make a phone call from a pay phone (wow, totally just dated myself) to ask for an extension on my curfew. It was granted and we caught a later showing of the movie.

The whole thing was a whirl-wind. I remember thinking this guy was okay, but I really hadn't formed any definite opinions. Well, I guess I made a more distinct impression. Before I knew it the phone was ringing. He wanted to see me again. Okay, sure, why not. I had plans to be out of town the following Friday and Saturday. This meant the he HAD to see me that Thursday evening, on Thanksgiving. At this point I thought this guy had possible lost his mind!

He met my parents that Thanksgiving evening. The weather was awful. It was sleeting so heavily the ground was completely covered. We lived in the country and I remember as he left my Mom saying, "I hope he can get out of the driveway, because he can't spend the night here!" Her future son-in-law did make it out of the driveway that night. However, he did get stuck a few miles down the road. He walked in the sleet and freezing rain to the nearest house (at least a 1/4 mile away) to call his Dad to drive almost 20 miles to tow his car over the hill!

All of this occurred over 17 years ago. We will celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary in April. For those of you that are speedy with math have already calculated the time difference. I'll cover that 8ish years in my next post!

Happy Valentine's Day!