Our first Official date

Isn't it amazing how complicated the notion of dating can be? Prior to November 1, Mom and Dad had gone on numerous outings which would have been considered dates back before Mom was considered old enough to date. However, once dating, and even perhaps marriage, became possibilities, Mom began to analyze such outings according to her own random criteria, such as whether or not someone (such as Dad) had actually invited her to go to whatever function or whether they just happened to wander in the same direction, etc., etc. Dad, on the other hand, had a rather simpler view of the whole situation, and he readily counted all outings as dates. This explanation is here since if you ask Dad about our first date, he'll probably talk about something that happened several weeks before the events described here. Mom considers it the first official date because 1) Dad expanded on the original idea suggested by Mom that they go to an event for which they could both get discount tickets and 2) it was the first outing they had that neither was connected to a church or institute activity nor involved the accompaniment of roommates or other individuals. Moving on to the actual event report . . .

Morning
Dad woke up feeling sick. Really sick, i.e. can't keep anything down sick. He considered calling Mom to cancel that night's date.

Mom woke up and hit the ground running, so to speak, getting all dressed up in preparation for a day full of interesting formal events. Mom's roommate helped Mom with her hair and such, and then Mom headed off to a couple of classes all dressed up in a blue velvet gown.


Midday
Mom's friend & employer Dr. E gave Mom a ride up to Salt Lake City so that Mom could attend her former roommate's wedding luncheon at the Joseph Smith Memorial building. Dr. E let mom off a block or so from the building while stopped at a traffic light, and on her walk the rest of the way to the building, Mom was excited to see & shake hands with Elder L. Tom Perry as he was crossing the street going the other way. Mom then found her way to the luncheon, highly impressed with the elegance of it all. Mom first discovered the delights of formal dinners during her senior year of high school, and so Mom felt somewhat smug as she confidently picked up the right fork for her salad while others at the table voiced their concerns at dealing with so much silverware. Mom got a ride home with one of the other guests after the luncheon.

Meanwhile, Dad continued to be sick. Very sick. But he still didn't call to cancel the date.


Evening
Mom got together her contributions for dinner and headed over to Dad's apartment at the appointed time. Mom and Dad made lasagna, but Dad said he didn't feel like he could eat any just then, only later (i.e. years later) revealing to Mom that he'd been feeling sick all day and had nearly canceled the date. So, Mom ate her portion, and then Mom and Dad headed off to the opera.

That particular semester, Mom and Dad were both privileged to be able to get $2 tickets to a few of the fine arts events, including the fall opera, Carmen. The ticket price turned out to be appropriate for the seats, which were at the top of the second level of the De Jong auditorium in the HFAC, providing a nice view of the whole stage, but making it rather difficult for near-sighted Mom, who had forgotten to bring her glasses, to see the actors' faces and, more importantly, the "subtitles" giving translations of the foreign lyrics. Dad very kindly whispered the subtitles to Mom, to the annoyance of his neighbor on the other side, and so Mom was able to follow the storyline.

The best part of the date, though, as far as Mom was concerned, came on the walk home. Dad, feeling bad that things had not gone entirely according to plan (i.e. the issues with dinner, glasses, etc.), said "Next time we go out things will be better." Yes! thought Mom; he said NEXT TIME! He's going to ask me out again! :)