For Chloe and Emma

****UPDATE****** The mister in this story has decided to leave his take on our first date in the comment section. DISCLAIMER: THE PARAGRAPH ABOUT THE BUTTER DID NOT HAPPEN. I REPEAT, THAT DID NOT HAPPEN. Carry on....

Dear Chloe and Emma,

Today is Valentine ’s Day 2008. While our family has never gone overboard on this day with gifts, it holds a very special meaning to daddy and I, it is the anniversary of our first date.

I was a junior in high school and daddy was away at college. The December before this special day, the very “serious” relationship I was in ended. Well, as serious as you can be as a junior in high school! But this guy was a “trust fund baby” and he was totally content to sit and watch me practice piano. What else could a girl need? Had he not broke my heart, I would be living on Lookout Mountain giving the housekeepers directions. I’m halfway kidding here. He was not who God had for me and I’m glad things worked out the way they did.

Anyway…he and daddy were friends. They were both crazy, adventurous and always right on the verge of getting into some major trouble. They were pranksters that pulled some pretty funny stunts. One day when you are much much older, we’ll share some of them with you. (In fact, my small group leader used to tell the two of them they could date anyone in our youth group, but they needed to leave me alone. She loved me. That was one wise woman.) Daddy knew the breakup was coming long before I did, and since he was away at school he started a little letter writing campaign. (I LOVE handwritten notes, so he captured my attention quickly)

All through January we exchanged letters and phone calls. I appreciated his “concern” and a friendship began to develop. So naturally, when I began to be “asked out” by my best friend’s brother I asked him his opinion.

I asked daddy if I should I go to dinner with this other guy, or say no because I didn’t want to complicate things with my best girlfriend if it went bad. THAT was one quiet conversation…. Ya’ll I was born blond in all aspects of the word. I’ll be the first to admit, I didn’t realize that daddy was trying to court me. I had no idea. This was 2 weekends before Valentines.

Like I said, daddy was quiet for a few minutes and then asked what I wanted to do. I told him I thought this guy was nice, but he had really bad teeth and I just couldn’t stand to look at him when he spoke.( I know, I know, man looks on the outer appearance, and God looks on the heart., but DANG that boy had some bad teeth. Anytime I was with him I just wanted to give him the name of my orthodontist.) I’m surprised that didn’t scare daddy off, but he laughed out loud, that made me mad. Here I was, being SOOOO transparent, and he laughed out loud. It ticked me off. And then I got tickled at him laughing at me and I was over it. Plus, he is so darn cute, I can’t stay mad at him for long.

So I agreed to go out with this other boy the weekend before Valentine’s. There was NO way I was going to go out with this guy on the “Day of LOVE”. I didn’t tell daddy, after all, he was 3 hours away at Carson – Newman and we were friends and nothing more.

Let me tell you what that little stinker did. He drove home unannounced and called me Friday night and said. “Hey, I just happen to be home, do you want to go out for dinner Saturday night?”

Great. Just great… I stalled and said, “Let me switch phones, the battery on this one is dying.”

I ran into the kitchen to find my mom. My mom who KNEW that the closer it got to the big date with ole’snaggle tooth, the more I wanted to back out. Seriously, it still makes me shudder to think about it….

Our conversation was like this.
Me: Mom, Chad’s on the phone, he came home and wants to take me out.

Mom: You can’t go out tonight.

Me: I know, he wants to go out tomorrow night. (I’m smiling real big and tilting my head to the left trying to look so adorable.)

Mom: (trying not to burst out laughing which for my mom is hard work) Well, you already have a date for Saturday night don’t you.

Me: I know but, I’m beginning to think the age difference is just too much. (He was fixing to turn 20. I was 17, a young 17)

Mom: No. You’ve accepted this young man’s invitation to dinner and a movie, you will go. How do you think he would feel if you cancelled to go out with Chad?

Me: UGH!!!!! Do you know what he wants to go see? BEAUTY AND THE BEAST! Do you know that the BEAST has better teeth than this guy!!!! This is just more than I can emotionally take right now.

Mom: You can go out with Chad the next time he comes in.

(Stomping back to the phone whose battery was more than charged.)

I explained to daddy that I already had plans for Saturday night, but maybe we could go out the next time he came home. He said, “Well, I’ll be home next Friday afternoon for a Dr.’s appointment how about Pizza and a movie next Friday night.” I said I would love to.

I went back into the kitchen to face the music with my mom, who was laughing about the whole situation. Surprisingly, I wasn’t grounded or in trouble for my smart mouth. I would later learn that she figured the date with ole’ snaggle tooth would be enough punishment. And it was……but that is a story for another day. I gingerly broke the news that Chad would be home the next weekend and he asked me to go to dinner and a movie.(not Beauty and the Beast.)

She said, “Well, isn’t that sweet. You’ve got a date for Valentine’s!”

That was the LONGEST week ever. Friday finally came and we had a very …interesting first date.

We went to the movies. I will not say the name because my parents would ground me if they knew. Needless to say, we weren’t expecting it to be so, ummmm how should I say “romantic” in a not so pure kind of way. We were both VERY uncomfortable, and it didn’t help that one of our church deacons and his wife were sitting right behind us! We were all very embarrassed.

So after the movie we went for pizza. We talked each other’s ears off, finishing the others sentence and laughing … a lot. The pizza joint we ate at was a family owned place, really cozy and a great place to sit and talk. The owner’s daughter was home from med school and she was studying in the booth next to us. Right before we left, she got up to ring up an order. When she left her table, she failed to close her text book. Remember I said she was in med school? Let’s just say, there’s a reason I refused the mirror during childbirth…..

Daddy drove me home where Gram’s had a dessert buffet set up for us and Aunt Val’s and Uncle Matt’s friends. Everyone always wound up at our house. Daddy stayed until, well….I think he finally left a little after midnight.

From that point on, we spent almost every weekend together. Daddy started coming home from school more often. It wasn’t long until we both “knew” that we had found the person God intended for us to spend the rest of our life with.

There you go, you’ve asked for years about our first date. Now the trick is, to get daddy to tell us what he remembers from that time……

Happy Valentine ’s Day sweet girls. I love you.