Have you ever been on a blind date? Did you like it? Was it awkward like they usually are?
Well let me tell you about the LAST blind date I ever went on.
It was 36 years ago today - on December 8th, 1977.
I lived in Mesa, Arizona and was actively involved in the young adult program. For a stake activity, the young adults had planned a "Date Auction". The money they received from the auction was going to go to a charity for Christmas.
The way it was supposed to work was that the girls would submit a "creative date" and the boys would bid on the dates. Two girls and I got together and submitted a "triple date". The auction began rather awkwardly, and no one was really bidding, so Gary, the YA President bid on the first date which happened to be ours. I think our date only went for $7.00, which was the lowest of the night, but at least it got the auction started.
The guys paid the night of the auction, but it was up to everyone
to follow through with each other by going on the actual date.
I knew that I would be going out of town later in December, so I put
down December 8th as the actual date that we would meet to go on this triple date. It turns out that we were the only date that followed through by actually going on the date. My eternities would have been very different if that blind date never happened!
The day of the "Blind Date" finally arrived.
It was Wednesday, Dec. 8th, 1977 and I had had a very busy day at
school. I heard from one of my girl friends that two of the three guys that were supposed to go on
the date had cancelled. I was bummed and
immediately wanted to just get this date over with. Gary Jones was the president of the Stake
Young Adults and so he recruited two of his friends. One was Craig Garvin and the other was Keith Horne. I came home late from
school and didn't even take time to change my clothes. I quickly brushed my hair and left for the
date. Little did I know that I would be
instantly attracted to one of the guys on the blind date.
When they came and picked me up, there were two guys and a girl
in the back seat, and then Gary was driving and another girl and I sat up
front. I remember looking into the back
seat and immediately feeling drawn to Craig.
We all got into the car and drove to the ice skating rink. As we were driving, we all introduced ourselves and told
something about ourselves. That's when I, for some strange reason, blurted out that I was a return missionary from Madrid, Spain. Everyone seemed sufficiently impressed for a moment, until Craig started speaking something to me
in Spanish. I mumbled out some very badly pronounced Spanish words back to him that I happened to remember from my high school Spanish class. It wasn't long before everyone in the car knew that I had NOT served a mission to Spain or anywhere else for a matter of fact! We all had a good laugh and it seemed to lighten the mood in the car and started some playful teasing between Craig and me.
We arrived at the ice skating rink and Craig said that as we walked in, the thought came into his mind as clear as day, "I'm going to marry that
girl." He never told me that until
after we were engaged. He did however
lean over to his friend Gary and say, "She's going to ask me to go skate with
her." And right he was. It was a snowball dance on the rink and
someone came and asked me to skate with him.
Then the music stopped and we both went and asked someone else. I immediately went over and asked Craig to
skate with me. I think we held hands and
skated around the rink. I can't remember
exactly what I was feeling, other than attraction. We kept teasing each other and I loved the
thrill of the challenge.
After the skating rink, we stopped by my apartment to get some of
the ice cream toppings for our ice cream sundaes at Carol's house. However, at this point I realized that I was
starting to fall for Craig and I didn't feel very pretty. So.... since I stopped by my apartment to get
the food, I just thought I would quickly change my clothes without anyone
noticing. What was I thinking? Craig notices EVERYTHING!!!! And he did
notice. I took off my frumpy clothes
I had worn all day, and put on my brand new pink sweater that I had just worn on a date with a dreamy guy named Dallas. This picture (see below) of this
beautiful pink sweater is what I wore on our blind date ...and I can still wear it 36 years later! (Now a family relic!)
After we had ice cream sundaes, we went to the Wednesday night
dance for the Young Adults at the LDS ASU Institute. This dance was where I frequented often. I had made it a rule to never hold any guys
hand, so that I could be "available" to dance with all of the good
dancers. So as we walked in, I felt the
same way. I think it is interesting to note that as we were putting the "blind date" together, and the three of us girls were talking, I think I was
the one who suggested that we not set up any one girl with any one boy, just IN
CASE, someone hits it off with someone in the date that night. ha ha.
Little did I know that it would be me!
As Craig and I danced at the dance, I could
"feel" something and I am pretty sure that he could too. I remember we danced the last slow dance and
I could definitely feel myself falling for him.
I'm pretty sure that even though I was feeling something for him, that I didn't let him hold my hand at the dance.
How crazy was that!
After the dance, we all got in the car and headed to Denny's for
Hot Chocolate and enjoyed visiting more with everyone. We drove home and Craig offered to walk me to my door. I was grateful for that, because I was hoping
that he would ask me out again, or ask for my phone number, but he didn't. I told him that I had had a really good time
and he agreed that he had too. He said
goodnight and as he turned to walk down my stairs he stopped and said,
"Hey, I have a basketball game this Thursday and thought you might want to
come." I don't remember the rest of
the conversation, but I found out what time and where. Then he walked out of my life. I remember feeling my heart drop a little as
he left. I never thought that anything
would come out of this blind date.
Now that I look back, I realize
that if I hadn't don't something, we would have never gotten together. So, I guess you could say that I was like Eve
- and my one decision caused a chain of reaction. haha! I didn't want to appear too aggressive, so I decided that I would go to his game, but that I would be
"fashionably" late. Thursday
came....and I dropped by the church where he was playing basketball. I was so late, that as I walked in
the gym the lights flickered off a moment later. Then all of a sudden the lights flipped back
on and there stood Craig in a burgundy sweat suit that said ASU on it. He came walking over to me and the light from
the exit sign, shined down on him as he stood next to me. It was then that I realized how tall he was
and how much I was attracted to him. We
walked out of the church talking together and then he told me that he and his
friends were going to the "Big Apple" restaurant on Main Street in
Mesa, Arizona and wanted to know if I wanted to go "with?"
I rode with him in his car to the restaurant and I left my car at the parking lot. I
remember that I ordered apple pie and there was a long table with all of his
friends there. It seemed a bit awkward
to me, being there with all of his friends that I didn't know, but he seemed very comfortable with me sitting next to him. After that was over, he took me
back to my car and we stood in the parking lot and talked forever. After that, we met at the young adult dance the following week and then he followed me to my place where we played pool.
Yes, that was the best and last blind date I ever went on! However, it felt like forever before Craig finally asked me out on a "real date." Looking back now, I guess you could say that I was a little impatient and Craig wasn't as slow as I thought. We met for the first time on December 8th, 1977 and he proposed on January 26th, 1978 and we were married on March 18th, 1978! This coming March we will celebrate 36 wonderful years of being together!
And it all started on a blind date.....
