romance in aisle 5

thankfully, i haven't really had any truly bizarre dates. i dated just a bit in high school and most of those dates were actually pretty nice. i started dating super jas in december of my freshman year of college, so i didn't really have the opportunity to "date" boys before he came along. i liked to flirt with the boys in college and dance and hang out and kiss them in the fraternity houses, but i never got serious with any of them. besides, most dates in college consisted of a walk to the point on campus that overlooked the river. not too much can go wrong on those dates. i am very impressed with g-love though. she went on an actual, real live, honest to goodness date in college. i gotta give the girl props for that!

my worst date ever wasn't really that bad. i had a major, major crush on this boy in high school named thad. i was a sophomore and he was a senior. and he was the valedictorian and the homecoming king and a total cutie with blonde hair and blue eyes. a lot of girls wanted to date this boy and so when a girl in my geometry class asked if i wanted her to set me up with him, i responded with an enthusiastic "yes!"

he picked me up one friday night in his truck which was fine enough. i lived in southern indiana, folks, and it's nearly against the law to not own a truck. plus, i drove one myself, so i had no right to judge. we drove to a town 30 minutes away to grab a bite to eat. we ate pizza over strained conversation. he was really quite shy and i was really quite shocked that i was ON A DATE WITH THAD, so the conversation never really flowed for us. i, too, made several trips to the bathroom for a teeth check and - dare i say this - i actually flossed with a strand of my hair. yes, ladies and gentlemen, i was that desperate to get the pizza out of my teeth. besides, i was determined to kiss thad (yes, i kiss on the first date) and wanted to make sure the moment was perfect.

we had an hour or so before our movie began and this is where the date took a bit of an odd turn. instead of suggesting that we sit and chat at the pizza place, or walk around the city, or play arcade games at the theatre, thad suggests that we go to wal-mart to kill some time. i mean, i knew we lived in small towns and that going to the city was a treat, but wal-mart is still wal-mart, people, no matter how you try and cut it. but, what was i to do? i was on a dream date with my dream boat, so i obliged.

we perused the aisles of wal-mart for a good 30-45 minutes...looking at this...checking out that. he was a big outdoors man, so we hit the fishing and hunting aisle to check out the latest gear. i acted interested because i was ON A DATE WITH THAD and yet my heart just wasn't into the boy.

eventually, we made our way to the movie and had a good time. i even got my good-night kiss that i had been hoping for. we never really clicked, but we dated for a month or two, i think. (which, in my dating history, is like forever.) obviously, he wasn't the boy i daydreamed about in geometry class, but it was fun while it lasted. the kicker is that a good friend of mine ('hammond' for the ww) went out on a date with him later that year. and wouldn't you know it, he took her to wal-mart too! apparently, the boy finds all the romance in aisle 5.