Posted on 04/25/2009 9:47:01 AM PDT by chasio649
“Honey, do you remember our first date?” I asked Husband-Head after hanging up the phone with my old high school girlfriend from California. “What did we do and how did we meet?”
Husband-Head was sitting on the couch and it was clear that there couldn’t be a subject he was less interested in than that of reminiscing about our dating days nearly 20 years ago.
Why is it that we girls want to remember every detailed minute, yet the actual wedding date seems to be a painful memory for the men?
From what I recall, the first time I met Husband-Head, I was tending bar at a local well-known watering hole, and he and 20 of his closest friends had come in to celebrate his birthday. Each one of his so-called “buddies” had ordered him a shot of liquor and — even though this was prior to the stringent liquor laws about overserving a patron — I knew that it was not a good idea. “Ummm ... dude ... you’re gonna die if you drink all these,” I warned him as I looked at all the shot glasses lined up on the bar.
“Then go out with me,” he bargained, as he started to drink the shots.
Not wanting him to die on my shift, I agreed to meet him the next night, pretty sure that there was no way he would ever remember the date.
I was wrong.
He didn’t die, but he did show up for our date.
And we ended up getting married — not until three years later, of course — but we’ve lived happily ever after since then.
All that came back to me the other weekend when my best friend from high school in California called me to give an update on her latest dating debacle.
Dana is a single, slim, smart and stylish woman, but for some reason she’s been single all of her life. She’s tried her hand several times at the online dating services, but so far has not had much luck with the men she’s met.
We talk on the phone almost every Friday night to share the events of our week and what’s been happening in our lives.
On this particular evening, Dana was relating a recent date she’d been on with a guy she’d met on one of the online dating services. The man claimed to be a 54-year-old medical doctor.
After chatting for a while, they agreed to meet for dinner at an Outback Steakhouse restaurant. “That’s not bad,” I said, trying to be encouraging. “I hear they have great steak and pasta.”
“I don’t even LIKE pasta!” Dana pointed out.
For me, it would be all about the food, but obviously this isn’t the main course in the dating world.
“And then he had a friggin’ coupon for the blooming onion appetizer,” Dana lamented.
I found this to be kind of funny, and I laughed.
You don’t like onions, nor do you want to kiss someone after eating them?
“Then, at the end of the dinner, he pulled out a gift certificate to pay for it all,” she continued. “And this guy is supposed to be a DOCTOR!”
Hmmm ... perhaps the economy is bad even for physicians.
I put my hand over the mouthpiece of the phone so she couldn’t hear me laughing. ...
Nevertheless, Dana relayed that she continued to give him a chance and accepted an invitation to go to his apartment for a cocktail afterwards. Which, surprisingly, did not go well.
“I am not going to date a guy who drives a crappier car than I do and lives in a crappier apartment than I do,” she reported indignantly. “It was gross!”
At this point, I had my hand over my mouth and was trying not to snot in my palm...
I didn’t even venture to ask if there had been any intimacy involved and what it was like...
“And furthermore, he had a flag draped over his bed,” she continued, answering my unasked question. “And he’s not even a veteran — he’s an idiot! I am SO done with dating!”
I wanted to console her by relaying all the idiots I’d dated — and kissed — in my younger years, but I didn’t think it would make her feel better.
When you’re dating in your middle-aged years, you think you know better by now and have learned from past mistakes.
HA!
Guess what...you’re pretty much just as stupid as you were when you were 25.
I looked at Husband-Head with new eyes after Dana and I got off the phone.
“Honey, let’s go out to Red Lobster for a romantic dinner this weekend,” I suggested. “I think I have a coupon...”
I thought you were already married?
I am. It didn’t occur to me before I was married, and it doesn’t now. Of course, I don’t go out with men, other than my husband or sons, but my prayer group took me out to lunch earlier this week, and I didn’t notice whether anyone used a coupon or gift certificate.
Because I'm taken. :-)
Cheers!
Well, you’re pretty much stuck if your husband does use coupons, aren’t you? After marriage coupons are fine.
Prayer group outing is not the same as a date. I don’t know why this seems to be sticking in your craw. I guess if you ever get single again, you could relate better to this woman. But certainly not now.
I think the story is fiction, anyway.
That’s as good a reason as any! Cheers back!
A doctor? Crappy car? Crappy apartment? Gift certificate?
I wonder if he was testing her?
If I was very wealthy, I’d rent a lesser apartment, drive a lesser car, date women and see which ones were genuine and which ones were superficial.
In what way?
In courtship, the man venerates the woman.
Dave Ramsey pickup lines for 2009
You look familiar ... didn’t I deliver a pizza to you last week?
You’re so hot you could melt my debt snowball.
Good thing I have identity theft insurance, because you stole my heart!
Call me your mutual fund, honey ... ‘cause with you, I’m showing interest.
Are you unpaid credit card debt? Because you have got FINE written all over you!
If you turn me down, my life will look like a country song.
When I saw you, my jaw dropped like the value of a new car.
You should be my retirement plan ... you’d put the “OK” in my 401k.
*****************
I love these. I suppose I wouldn’t qualify for Dana.
And last years:
still have money in my “restaurant” envelope ... can I buy you dinner?
Would you like to dance? I’d love to show you my Baby Steps.
Why am I nervous about talking to you? Because you’re better than I deserve.
Allow me to introduce myself ... I am “borrower”, and you must be “lender”.
Good thing I got just term life insurance ... because I saw you and my heart stopped!
You can’t spell Financial Peace University without U and I.
I’ve already kicked Sallie Mae out. Want to take her place?
I just bought a bass boat with cash ... and it’s a good thing, because you’re quite a catch!
I’m not mortgage interest baby ... don’t write me off.
The good news? I’m debt free. The better news? I’m also date free.
What would you say if I asked you out? (response: no). That’s not good enough
Courtesy of one of Dave’s listeners On a scale of 350-850, I’m a Zero!
First dates are not to impress, at least in my opinion. First dates are to get to know each other.
I would ask a first date to go hiking, or to go watch a balloon race, or, on occasion, to the shooting range.
My wife and I's first date was to make American chili.
We met in the Philippines, she is a Philippina, and she had never had American chili and wanted to know what it was like.
But a meal in a restaurant? It is to laugh.
A good first impression, yes. To impress, no.
You’re lucky to have had such a casual setting to meet your wife. We should all be able to meet that way, but a meal is usually the way on a date. I’m saying don’t be a cheap*ss and use a coupon on the first date if a ‘meal’ is involved. It’s not brain surgery. You can get cheap after the wedding. :)
My wife wasn't the first woman I ever went on a date with.
I NEVER took a FIRST date to a meal in a restaurant.
Second date and on, perhaps.
First date, NEVER.
I understand that a "meal" is normal as a first date but I decided long ago that I would never take a first date to a restaurant for a meal. I AM cheap and wouldn't want to spend the money to try to impress a woman that I didn't know if I wanted to take the time to get to know.
If money was an issue on the first date, the woman probably wouldn't have wanted anything to do with me anyway.
Well, there are some women who do not want a cheap man. I don’t consider it a virtue anymore than I consider people who drive hybrid cars as virtuous. There’s nothing wrong with a woman looking for a successful spouse. Most men have levels of acceptability on a woman’s appearance, I don’t fault this woman or call her a golddigger or whore if she has an level of acceptability on a man’s spending habits. It’s her preference. So what?
When I say cheap it is in the meaning of, When you buy something, buy quality. That way you only cry once.
That carried over into other areas of my life, as in looking for a spouse.
It seems to have worked as I am going on 26 years of marriage and 28 years together with my love.
“I believe you should place a woman on a pedestal - high enough so you can look up her dress”. - Steve Martin
Dang, you and I are just way to similar. My favorite first date is horseback riding. It tells me a lot about a person when they are around animals.
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