The First Time

I had a blind date.

It was many years ago (surprised you for a minute, didn’t I?) and it wasn’t my first, but it was the best. That was the day I met G-Man. (My husband.)

Here’s what happened–after two years at Ozark Bible College, I went to a business school in The Big City. There I met a girl from the town to the north of C-Town and we became very good friends. She was crazy about the guy she was dating and kept telling me I should go out with his roommate.

“I don’t like blind dates,” I answered several times. Then one day I said, “Is that cute pharmacist your boyfriend rooms with still single?”

He was. (Lucky me!) So we set up a double-date for December 7th.

I lived in an apartment building that was built in a square with a pool in the middle. Every apartment in my section faced the pool, and since I lived in a two bedroom (my roommate was a school teacher) we had a sliding glass door instead of a regular door.

My apartment was easy to find, so they picked me up first. It was frigid that night(about like it is right now. Brrr!) and breezy. And, naturally, I wasn’t quite ready when they got there.

When I heard them knock, I ran to the living room to yell, “Just a minute!” through the closed drapes and heavy glass door.

“Hurry up!” A man answered. “It’s cold out here.” (The icy wind just kept swirling in those squares.)

So I grabbed my purse and yanked back the curtain. Two men stood there. A tall, slender blond and a shorter man with auburn hair. Heart pounding, I opened the door so they could warm up a little before we left.

I was used to going out on blind dates and wishing I’d gotten the other guy. Not this time, though. While the other guy was very nice and good looking, I got the one I

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would have picked if there’d been a box full of them. 

I got the cute, red-headed guy with the shy smile and smart mouth.

We rushed to G-Man’s car (Oldsmobile Cutlass. Loved the car!) and jumped inside. “Okay, how do we get to Mary’s house?”

Do what? Mary lived on a funny street somewhere and I’d only been there once. I twisted in the seat and stared at the other guy. “You’re dating her. Don’t you know how to get there?”

“Naw. I usually see her back home.”

I directed G-Man to her house the best I could, and after only a few times of saying, “Wait. Maybe we should have turned the other way back there”, we found it. (G-Man shouldn’t have been surprised that I’m missing the directional gene, but to this day he is!)

Although I’d given them fantastic directions (snort!) we were too late the see a movie as we’d planned, so we went dancing instead. We all went to the movie the next night. Again, I had a wonderful time. I couldn’t wait for him to call and ask me out again.

But, nothing. He didn’t call. He didn’t drop by. He didn’t even send word with Mary. I was heart-broken, because I thought he was great fun and funny–for me a deadly duo.