Our First Date

After we had been dancing for a while Rachel called me up and invited me to go country dancing with her in Salt Lake City. Even though her sister came as well, we still consider this to be our first “official” date.

Shannon and I enjoy country dancing at Trolley Square. It was Shannon’s birthday and I decided to go with her and to invite Logan to come as well since our history is that of dancing.

Before we went to Trolley Square (the venue for the dance) we had to stop by Rachel’s parent’s house to pick up Shannon. This was also, obviously, the first time I would meet any of her family. I have thought back on how nice it was to meet her family in this way- very low stress. I felt absolutely no anxiety about meeting them because we were just going on a date- a first date even- and there were no judgments being cast. It would have been much different, I think, if Rachel and I had been serious by this point and we were subconsciously (or not) evaluating each other as future in-laws.

So anyway, I met her family. I don’t really remember a whole lot about this meeting other than the fact that her dad was very large and his hand engulfed mine when I shook it. But they were all very friendly and then we were off to the dance.

The dance was…a dance. Nothing real special there.

I enjoy going dancing here because they provide dance instruction prior to the dance.

After the dance we walked around downtown Salt Lake for a while and talked about our different families. It was a little bit weird having Shannon there. I remember we went out to eat at a little restaurant named Dee’s (it was later bulldozed) and then we dropped Shannon off at home and drove back to Provo.

I remember talking for a long time about each of our families. We talked about the different personalities that each one had. This was one of the first times that I realized that not all families are like mine. I had never really given that idea much thought. Since that time It has been fun taking things we like about each of our families to create our little Hazard family.

Although I didn’t know it, the date was not even half over by this point. There’s really not much to write because nothing really “happened.” Instead, we just talked. A very good, very long talk. The conversation started in the car on the way back to Provo, and then moved to a park across the street from Rachel’s apartment (it was also bulldozed a little later). I don’t even remember the topic of conversation, but I do remember thinking that Rachel was very easy to talk with and for some reason I found myself opening up to her about things that I didn’t usually share with people. We talked that night until 4:00 in the morning, but it didn’t seem that long.

This was my favorite part of our date. I remember swinging on the swings and sitting on the dome monkey bars while we talked. No topics of conversation really stand out, but I felt really comfortable talking with Logan and time just flew by. This was the first of many conversations we had outside late into the night.

It is kind of sad that both the restaurant and the park we talked at were both bulldozed to the ground.

At the end of our date I walked Rachel back to her apartment, finalized plans for a second date (rock climbing), and gave her a short hug.

And that was that. Our first date.