Marriage Actually - An honest look at marriage

HIStory Part 2 - The First Date… Almost

by Bald Man on June 8th, 2007

The chapter is alternatively titled, “Why the Baptists Were Probably Right To Ban Card Playing”

Ah, the first date. It’s an amazing thing, ain’t it? Half excitement; half fear; half hormones. Yes, truly the first date has the power to warp even the laws of mathematics. But before we get to our first date, we need to back up a few weeks… to the first social gathering.

I’ve already mentioned that we met for the first time at a high school wrestling meet. Well it turns out that Kerri and I had a few friends in common, just not each other at this point in time. Kerri and a couple of these common friends had planned a night of cards one weekend.

Do you know Euchre?

It was the rage in this part of the world (i.e. Fairborn High School) back in the early 90’s. We played before class, after class, between class, during class. At lunch, the best seat was in the middle of the table, because with three to a side you could play TWO EUCHRE GAMES AT ONCE! (Now you surely understand what Kerri sees in me.)

Anywho… Kerri and a couple mutual friends had a night of cards set up when due to some sort of boyfriend-girlfriend spat their fourth dropped out at the last minute. “Well, I know someone who likes to play cards,” one of those mutual friends said. Who, you ask, could that be? None other than little ol’ me.

Now here’s an interesting little tidbit. The foursome consisted of two guys and two girls. When we started playing Kerri and I each had a crush on one of our cardmates… but not each other! One friend we still remain in touch with - went to his wedding earlier this spring as a matter of fact - and the other… not so much. She moved away and we’ve lost contact.

Here’s where I’ll end this chapter. Sometime around the third or fourth weekend of gathering at Kerri’s house for cards, the crushes had begun to shift. You know how enduring most - I say MOST acknowledging that I married my high school sweetheart - high school crushes are right? Well, ours were indeed on the move.

Exhibit A… as best I remember it: One such evening we’re sitting around the kitchen table. Kerri is on my left and I just so happen to have put my foot on top of hers. Were I a more subtle boy, you might think that this was a clever way to flirt. Were Kerri a less intuitive girl, she might have dismissed it as mere clumsiness. But no! It was not meant to be that way! Kerri asks, “You know your foot is on mine?”

“Yeah… I know,” is my smooth reply. The rest, as they say, is history.

Egads! What did she see in me?

images: jack-7 | dolls | crushinator

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