Twenty Four years and one week ago was the luckiest day of my life.
(No, it wasn't the day I was born, but thanks anyway. Ha Ha.)
Twenty four years ago I was a 17 year old seminary student.
It was springtime and that meant the annual Seminary Computer Dance was upon high schoolers throughout the valley. The basic idea was that each student would fill out a questionaire about his or her self. Likes, dislikes, hobbies, etc. Each school would send in the profiles of their students and POOF, like magic, the computer would set you up with a compatible date from another school.
Oh the excitement of who you might get set up with!
Everyone was eager and excited at the prospect of who their date might be....
Everyone
except me.
I thought the whole thing sounded like a silly idea. I rolled my eyes at my friends as they busily filled out their questionaires.
"NO thanks, NOPE and NOT me."
These are the things I said to my snobby self.
The next couple of weeks were spent helping my girlfriends network to obtain the necessary information and yearbooks from surrounding schools. It was our mission to find out as much about their assigned dates as we could. I bit my lip and tried to hide my
self righteous, told you so smile as one by one, no impressive information appeared. And the yearbook pictures? Well they didn't exactly match up with the dreamy lifeguard types they were hoping for. I have to admit feeling a bit smug as the sting of disappointment settled over our group.
Finally, the day of the dance rolled around.
I was out working in the yard with my mom when the phone rang.
Dad came outside to get me.
I was a little shocked when the woman on the line introduced herself as the coordinator for the Seminary Dating Service.
"Kimberly, we understand that you are not going to the dance tonight and we have a young man who's date has cancelled, we were wondering if you would be willing to go with him."
Her voice was so sweet, almost familiar in a crazy kind of way.
I paused for a moment. I pictured some poor, dejected boy who couldn't get a date, even from a seminary dating service.
Sad.
Really sad.
So. Extremely. Sad.
Then, almost before I knew it, I agreed to go. It was one of those moments when the words fly out of your mouth and you wish you could grab them and stuff them back in.
"Great! He'll pick you up at 6:00." she quickly replied.
"Wait!" I stammered.
"What is his name?"
"What school is he from?"
"Oh, you'll see when he gets there."
"Goodbye." and the line was dead.
Now remember, the year is 1986.
No such thing as caller id.
No ability to google someone's name.
No way of knowing if this was real or a joke.
As soon as I hung up the phone, anxiety settled over me.
"I don't want to go." I confided to my parents.
My dad reassured me, "I will answer the door when he comes. If I don't feel good about it when I meet him, I'll tell him you can't go."
"If he pulls up in the driveway and honks the horn, I'm not going either!" I huffed.
Dad agreed.
A couple of hours seemed more like a couple of days. I got my hairspray out and did my best
Mid-80's- Do, put on my best floral print dress and waited for my date to arrive.
My mom and I were upstairs in her room when a loud, obnoxious horn began to honk in the driveway.
"That's it!" I hollered.
"I'm not going!"
Mom tried to calm me down as Dad answered the door.
A couple of minutes later, Dad appeared.
"It's ok," he reassured me.
"Are you sure?" I questioned.
Dad put an arm around me as we walked down the stairs.
I will never forget peeking around the banister to see a very red faced Mark standing there with a single rose in his hand.
Mark?
I was confused.
I knew Mark, or rather, I knew who he was.
We went to the same school. In fact, he had just been crowned Jr. Prom King a week or two earlier.
It turns out that Mark's sister, Christie, had heard that I was not going to the dance.
While Mark was at work that Saturday, his assigned date called and told his mom that she couldn't make it to the dance.
Christie and Marilyn put their heads together and came up with Yours Truly.
Marilyn was the "Seminary Dating Service
Impostor Coordinator" who called me.
When Mark arrived home from work that day, he was told that his original date had cancelled but guess what??
Mom & Sister to the rescue! (Imagine how thrilled he must have been.)
Mark's friends were in the driveway, piled into a great big Suburban.
They honked again and Mark apologized.
Poor guy was so embarrassed.
My dad hugged me as Mark and I left for our first date.
Who would have ever guessed?
When I returned home that night my parents were waiting eagerly for all the details.
"There is something special about that boy." said my Dad with a smile.
"I like him."
Twenty four years later, here we are.
How lucky I feel. How blessed I am.
Twenty four years later, he still makes my heart skip.
Twenty four years later I still think he is the most handsome, kind, thoughtful person I have ever known.
He is hands down, no doubt about it, the best thing that has ever happened to me.
I have wished a hundred times that I could cross paths with the girl who stood him up.
I wish I could take her to lunch and thank her for making April 12, 1986 the
luckiest day of my life.
Oh, and thanks to Mama and Sister Bear for taking matters into their own paws.
You guys are the best.
