Cutting to the Point and Space Date

Worst Date – Entry 20 

A guy in my freshman ward sang “Come, Come Ye Saints” during sacrament meeting, and though he got the words all mixed up, he had a nice voice. He sat next to me in Sunday School, and so I told him that I thought he had a great voice.  He took the compliment and ran with it. He walked me home from church and asked me out for the next Wednesday night.

Wednesday night rolled around, and he picked me up from the lobby of my dorm, and we headed to Macaroni Grill. Over dinner, we engaged in what we will call stimulating conversation. He told me about the importance of his relationship with music. He said: “Sometimes, when girls just aren’t doing it for me, John Denver does.” He also discussed how he strongly believes in the healing power of music, telling me, “Josh Groban’s second album cured my hernia.” When we were done eating, he asked me if I was ready to go, and then stood up and started to book it out of the restaurant. There was this fleeting moment during which I wondered whether or not he had actually paid, and then the maitre d’ stopped him and informed him that if he didn’t go back to his table and take care of the check, they would be calling the police.

We left the restaurant—him shameless, me mortified—and he told me that we would be ice-skating. Once we were at Seven Peaks putting on our skates, he told me that he was “a super good ice-skater” and that he “used to compete and stuff.” I shuffled awkwardly around the rink alone as he twirled and leapt around the middle.

At one point, he tried to convince me to jump and spin simultaneously, and I assured him that standing up straight was about as good as it was going to get for me. He tried to show me that jumping and spinning isn’t that hard, but as he did, he knocked me over and landed on my head. I hit my face and forehead pretty hard on the ice, and his skate cut the back of my head open. I was bleeding all over the ice, and someone else finally yelled that he should get me to a hospital.

I don’t remember most of the drive to the hospital (I hit my head pretty hard), but I remember him singing “You Raise Me Up” and “Come, Come Ye Saints” (our song). He pulled up to the ER doors where ambulances pull up, and as I started to reach for the door handle, he said, “Hey, would it be okay if I just drop you off here? Because I was planning to watch LOST with my roommates tonight.” I told him to just go.

When he asked me out again the next week, I told him that when I end up with more than 10 stitches on a first date, I usually don’t go on a second. He asked if he could be the exception to that rule. I said no. 

Best Date – Entry T 

About a year ago, I started dating a guy I met at BYU through our family home evening group - we were the "mom and dad." My birthday was coming up, so he asked me what I wanted to do to celebrate. I told him - "Anything to get out of Provo, please!"  He said he would see what he could do.

So the weekend before my birthday, my date dropped by my apartment at the appointed time. He brought over a beautiful bouquet of a dozen roses along with my favorite guilty pleasure - Ghiradelli mint chocolate. I thanked him, and then we were off to Salt Lake City.

First stop was the planetarium in the Gateway Mall. I had never been there before, but had always wanted to since I love visiting planetariums. Exploring the planetarium was fun. My date and I traveled to Mars and explored the quite hospitable environment. On our way back to Earth we stopped by the moon and appreciated our planet's beauty. We learned how much we weigh on other planets in the solar system and discussed how robbed we felt when Pluto was stripped of its planet status.

Next my date took me to Pier 39 restaurant in downtown Salt Lake. A month before, I had started a gluten-free diet because I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. I immediately started having nightmares about and cravings for my favorite "glutenous" foods, in particular pizza, but I was so busy with school that I didn't have the time to figure out how to make my own gluten-free pizza. So my date found out that this restaurant served gluten-free pizza. And the pizza was AMAZING! Best pizza I had ever had, and best of all there were leftovers I could save for lunch the next day.

Finally, my date took me to the Capitol building and we watched the sun set over the city. It was the best day I had so far during the semester. A few days later, on my actual birthday when I was swamped with tests and work, I could remember that day and endure the trials of school and my new diet.

And in case you were wondering, my date and I explored the OMSI science museum the day he proposed four months later, and seven months later we visited an aquarium during our honeymoon. Maybe I'm a nerd but those kind of dates are the best ones.