I recently asked on my Facebook page if anyone had a great bad date story.
Many events that happen in my books are versions of stories that I have experienced or heard about. For example, in my book The Random Acts of Cupid, the entire premise is based on something that happened to me in high school and the idea of what if it had ended differently.
So if I ask a question, it’s only fair that I answer it as well.
Although I never really dated much, I do have some great stories—my favorite being my first date with Brian, the man who would be my husband.
I’ll spare you all the background of how we met (for now), and just tell you about our first official date. We decided to go fishing, since it was something we both love. The deal was that we would see who could catch the most fish. The loser would then have to pay for us to go see a movie afterward.
We went to a local pond in the middle of the day, so the fishing wasn’t great. In fact, it was pretty lousy. However, I’m proud to say that I caught significantly more fish than he did.
He caught zero. As in none. As in he never had a fish on his hook.
I caught… one.
Sure, it wasn’t huge.
Ok, it was rather small.
Maybe three inches.
If I stretched it out on a ruler, and it held its breath.
Seriously, I have no idea how the fish actually fit the hook in its mouth to be caught.
But it counted, which meant that I WON!
We drove to the movie theater, which was about an hour away, and talked the entire time. We parked and went into the theater to buy our movie tickets. The movie we wanted to see was The Mask of Zorro (So, I know this is dating me in a completely different way, but our first date was circa 18 years ago!).
When we got to the line for tickets, Brian realized that he’d forgotten his wallet in the car. So back we went. At this point it was amusing, and I was certain his memory lapse was because he was enamored with me to the point of distraction!
Midway through the parking lot, Brian realized that he couldn’t remember where he’d parked! Now, it was really funny.
Eventually, he located his car and his wallet, and we headed back into the theater. Unfortunately, the show didn’t stop for Brian’s lost wallet. And car.
By the time we got there, we were too late to see the movie. Now, it was absolutely hilarious. The next showing wasn’t for over an hour. With nothing else to do, we sat on a bench and waited. We talked the entire time, and it ended up being one of our fondest memories.
We eventually did see the movie and had a great time. But looking back, I wouldn’t have wanted the date to go any other way. Sure, technically speaking, it had some big “fail” moments, but life is full of bumps. Our first date let us know that we could enjoy each other even if things go wrong.
It just so happens that first date ended up being rather typical for us. Our dating experiences also included his car running out of gas in central California and us having to hitchhike to the nearest gas station.
There was also the time Brian accidentally went swimming with his car keys in his pocket. They apparently parted ways at at the bottom of the reservoir, and we had to walk out of the canyon to get cell phone reception to call for help. Before he could locate another set of keys and pick the car up… it was towed. Needless to say, we were a little late and considerably poorer when embarking on our road trip to see his parents the next day.
We didn’t have perfect dates. In fact, they were hilariously bad in terms of the number of things that went wrong. But I wasn’t looking for perfect. Life isn’t perfect, but if you can have someone beside you who is able to laugh at life’s imperfections, then life at least gets more fun.
So when Brian asked me to marry him four years later, there was no question that I would say “yes.” Why? Someday I’ll write about how he proposed. (That one was as close to perfect as you can get.)
Besides the fact that I loved him, I was also wise enough to realize that Mr. Right is the one you still like to be with, even when everything goes wrong.
P.S. I’m always looking for hilariously bad date stories. What are yours? One day, I intend to write a sequel to The Random Acts of Cupid. A matchmaker series is going to need a considerable amount of wrong to find Mr. Right!