So let's get started.
May 4, 2002. My senior prom. This date is actually the only one where I asked him. We went ice skating before the dance, which was my second ice skating experience ever. I'm not exactly coordinated, so, well, I'm sure he was well entertained. Then I went back home and changed into my pretty dress and waited for him to pick me up. And...waited. And waited. My mom jokingly asked me if I'd scared him off during the ice skating. I'd thought we'd had fun! Turns out he'd had car problems. He showed up, my mom took pictures, and we were off...to my friend's house...for more pictures. We had dinner at El Gallo Giro, this randomly amazing Mexican place in Kuna. During dinner my friend Tracy mentioned that my birthday happened to be the next week. (Remember that part. It's important.)
And then the dance. I'd spent most of my growing up years putting high school dances on a giant pedestal. I wanted more than anything to have a romantic prom or homecoming or winter formal. The years passed and I was finally old enough to go! But nobody asked me. Sophomore year passed. Junior year passed. No dances. Senior year came; I actually did get asked to homecoming about two days before the dance by a good friend, and we did have fun, but it was clearly a last-minute hey-my-date-cancelled-so-you-wanna-go-or-what? moment. So when senior prom came around, I was determined to go.
Despite all of that, I actually don't remember that much about the dance itself. There was some No Doubt played. For some reason (student council, probably?) my little brother had to help serve the punch. One of my friends wore tennis shoes under her big poofy formal and halfway through the night my achy feet were jealous. It was...a high school dance. Oh, also, the theme for the prom was Stairway to Heaven. The ironic part? My mom's senior prom (Capitol High 1980) was also Stairway to Heaven.
But it's after the dance that I remember better. The friends that I came with went back to someone's house for ice cream. My date had a better idea. We drove across town (Nampa). For some reason he decided at the last minute to do a left hand turn from the far right lane. Right in front of a cop. Red and blue lights flashed. He got off with a warning. And then behind the Target (I think it was Target, anyway) in Nampa my date hooked up his mp3 player (note: this was 2002 and only about 7 people on the planet had mp3 players) to his giant DJ speakers and we had our own dance. It. Was. Epic.
Oh, and remember how I said it was important to remember that my friend told him about my birthday? The following Wednesday he showed up--unannounced--at my house with a mix CD and a rose. We lived an hour away from each other. Don't worry; my mom fed him dinner.
April 8ish, 2006. This is the only one that I don't remember the exact calendar date. It could have been the 7th, 8th, 14th, or 15th. All I remember is that it was April and that there was a dance that night. We didn't go to the dance. He picked me up at my apartment and we walked to this hole-in-the-wall authentic Mexican place in Rexburg called Ramire's. This place cracks me up. It's been years, so I don't know if it even still exists or what, but at the time the walls were cracked and none of the tables matched. And the food was good. We got giant burritos and horchata and ate and laughed and talked.
Then we walked back to BYU-Idaho campus (he was a student; I was not) and went to a live comedy show. Guys, if you want to impress me, take me to a live comedy show. Preferably one that is actually funny. This one was. I wish I could remember the name of the group, but I don't. It was an improv group made of local students; like SNL for twenty-something Mormons who are obsessed with getting married because that's the only way they're gonna get...to stay out past midnight.
And then we walked to Coldstone. There's lots of walking in this story. He didn't have a car. Which isn't a big deal in Rexburg, although by this time it was dark and kinda cold and Coldstone was a bit of a walk. No big deal. We had fun with it. We talked about life and roommates and mutual friends (that's you, Mallory) and previous dates. We found out that both of our previous favorite first dates ended up with a dance behind a building. On the way back to my apartment from Coldstone we stopped at a place that I later referred to as the Corner of Blue, Green, and Tan. Blue for this GIANT blue house (that I actually lived in about five months later), green for Millhollow frozen yogurt, and tan for the ROC--this call center that I never worked at but heard horror stories about. On the fourth corner of this intersection was a construction site. He walked me over to the construction site and pulled out his iPod. We each took an earbud and danced to Stability by Death Cab for Cutie. He kissed me. It was the beginning of a magical...roller coaster of emotional craziness.
February 14, 2007. This date was probably the simplest of the four, but it made an impression. The Coldstone Roller Coaster guy had just broken up with me for about the sixth (and final) time. I was still hurting when I met someone else. We'd actually known of each other for years due to mutual friends, and had even talked on the phone once, but we met in person about a week before Valentine's. We did end up dating pretty seriously, which didn't work out in the end (read: I cruelly shattered his heart into a million pieces), but there was an instant spark the day we met. I have pictures of that day and it still strikes me how happy we both looked. Like I'd mentioned, I was still hurting, but the day I'd met him was the first time in weeks that I'd felt truly happy.
Anyway, neither of us had plans for Valentine's so he asked me out. We ate dinner at this restaurant that I'm pretty sure no longer exists called Heart, Mind, and Soul. (One time I saw David Archuleta there.) They had old episodes of Growing Pains projected on the wall across from our table. I *think* it was an episode where Carol got stood up for a dance but a) there was no sound and b) it's been 5 years. I don't remember what we ate. I was too busy laughing like I'd never laughed before.
They had live entertainment at the restaurant, but we couldn't see from our table, so after we finished eating we went over by the stage and shared a bean bag chair. We had fancy non-alcoholic drinks and watched an amusingly not funny comedian and decent live jazz. We stayed there talking on the bean bag chair after the music was over. It was almost midnight and I think the restaurant staff wanted us out of there so they could go home.
Eventually we did leave. He dropped me off at my door and asked when he could see me again. Guys, those words are gold. Well, those words are gold if the girl is at least somewhat interested in you. Otherwise those words are somewhat creepy and awkward. In this case, though, gold.
July 9, 2011. I want to say that this one takes that cake, but maybe it's just because I'm not over him yet. Or maybe it's just because of the sheer volume of new and fun things I got to do that night. Or maybe it was the scorpion. Regardless, it was pretty dang awesome.
We met at Boondocks...oops, I mean Wahooz...in Meridian. We mini golfed and talked about concerts we'd been to, places we'd lived, and music we liked. We cheated at the rules of mini golf, or at least I did.
Then it was off to dinner in downtown Boise. I don't remember the name of the place, but it was Spanish/Mexican food and I'm fairly certain there was a cow skull replica on the door. The waitress recommended the green sauce over the red sauce, and she was right about that.
Then we walked over to the Record Exchange, where we talked about indie music and he told me about how his kids like to sing karaoke. We listened to CDs and looked at movie covers. On the walk there we stumbled across a parade of classic cars. I mentioned how much my son likes cars.
Next it was off to north Boise and this really awesome candy shop. I was like a kid in a candy store. No, really. I was. We got bottles of pop to take with us up to Tablerock. He bought me a scorpion sucker. We watched the sunset on Tablerock. We drove most of the way up because it would have taken too long to hike. I told him he looked like Adam Levine.
And that's how it happened.
