dance

Journal prompt: Do you remember your first date?

My Journaling:
I can’t at all say my first date was a good experience – actually for me it was mostly embarrassing.

The summer before my junior year in high school, I turned 16. I was not the type of girl who boys wanted to date – I was more the friend and the go-between my girl friends and the boys that liked them. I had a few crushes and such but I was in no way close to having a date. Being a teenager, it was the worst feeling in the world to not be “liked.”

Junior prom came around and it was a big deal in my very small hometown high school. There were 28 kids in my Junior class and everyone of them – except for me – had a date to prom. On the day of the prom, I sat in the school office making up the prom booklets (I was on the prom committee) and feeling pretty darn sorry for myself. Some friends decided to help and went ahead and setup a blind date for me with a 19-year-old who was a brother of a new girl in my school. I couldn’t say no, but I felt really stupid that my first date was going to be a blind date and to prom of all things and with a boy that was 3 years older than me (that was pretty weird when you are in high school). I went on the date – thank goodness it was with a group – and that boy didn’t say one word to me the entire day. I tried to strike up a conversation, but he was even more shy than I was. I felt so stupid. We went hiking and had a dinner at a friend’s house and it was fun as long as I didn’t try to talk to my date. When it came time for the dance – I was dropped off and I got ready at a friend’s house. When I arrived back home – I discovered that my date had already been there to “meet the parents.” He came back a few minutes later and we went up to the high school for the dance. It was the most awkward experience of my life. We danced like maybe twice, got our picture taken, and he still didn’t talk to me. The photographer made him put his hands around my waist and that was so awkward. I was pretty much relieved when the night was finally over. I never actually saw my date again. He went off on a mission and I don’t know where he is now. I have always felt bad that my prom experience was not something magical, but I suppose there is something to having your first date be a disaster – at least its something to laugh about now.

Each Tuesday, I am going to be offering prompts or ideas. If you don’t write in your journal regularly – I am going to encourage you to write just ONCE A WEEK and answer the question/idea that I give on Tuesdays. These ideas hopefully will spark a memory and you will be able to capture that in what you write/record so that it can be left for your children/grandchildren/family/friends. Give as much detail as you can when answering.

Will you do this for me? Will you do this for your families? You can write it down in a journal, you can type it up on a computer or journaling software, you can take a recorder and talk, you can videotape your answers, you can even scrap a page with the journaling. It doesn’t matter how you do this – it’s just important that you do it. The memories, the dates, the information is the only real thing we can leave to our families when we are gone.