Accidental and Unconventional Dates

Red Rock Canyon on a date to Las Vegas.

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Phenomenal Dates

I've known your Dad since junior high - since we were 14. Wow. We were in the same friend groups through school and church and did lots of things together with those friends. But, if a date is a social or romantic engagement,  then we've only been on a 45-year date!

Over the years, we have some pretty phenomenal dates -

• driving all night for a one-day visit to San Francisco before returning to classes on Monday morning,
• repeated visits to the Happiest Place on Earth, 
  
• swimming parties at my house,
• visiting Matt's home only to find baby pygmy goats in the bathroom or being rescued from the Foul Fowl on a walk across the field,
• skipping school to spend a day at the Portland Zoo,
• beautiful dinners and wonderful hikes,
• old, black and white movies and new ones like Star Wars,
• visits to museums, art galleries and parks,
• Giovanni's Pizza and "The Glass of Water."

A lifetime of wonderful dates.

But there are two dates which qualify as "Best Dates" - my first date with your Dad and the first date after our wedding.

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The Accidental Date

Our first date was accidental.  We had planned to go on a double-date to Cannon Beach with our own dates at the beginning of summer vacation - the summer between our junior and senior years. But our dates decided they did not want to go!  We went anyway - it wasn't a date, just a trip to the beach. 

When Matt showed up at my house early Saturday morning, I wasn't even up yet - in fact, nobody was awake when he rang the doorbell. Probably the fastest I ever got dressed! We stopped at Oney's for breakfast, visited the tallest Sitka Spruce Tree and bought lunch provisions at Haystack Bakery.  We made it to Short Sands and hiked the trails above the beach and climbed down the cliff to the beach - which, in retrospect, was a terribly risky thing to do.

And we talked. We talked throughout the drive, we talked at breakfast, we talked almost non-stop about anything and everything.  I think by the end of this first non-date date, Matt knew more about me than I'd shared with just about anyone during high school. 

We also kissed for the first time and held hands the entire drive home. 

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The Most Unconventional Date

So, honeymoons are really long dates. We had two weeks to celebrate - one week at Mt. Hood and a second week in Victoria, B.C.  But, we had a day between the wedding and travel, and planned to visit the Portland Zoo as a beginning to the honeymoon. The weather was overcast, but not too cold. The Zoo was smaller than today so we were able to visit all of the animals - and visit with our friends. We'd invited members of the wedding party to join us. 

While they seemed a bit unsure about meeting us at the Zoo to begin our honeymoon, it was just one more way to celebrate for us - although unconventional. There isn't any one memory which stands out for the day, but I know it was a sweet way to begin married life.