Helena has a new favorite TV sit-com. It is called "How I Met Your Mother". I thought I'd borrow the title (with a slight twist) for the title of this post. My life is not a sit-com, of course. But the title fits.
I promised last week that Flashback Friday this week would be a flashback to the day I met Bill. So, in honor of that promise, here it is!
*****
December 6, 1992
Well, I've done it again. I must be the most fickle girl in the world.
My relationship with Kevin has been developing slowly but surely. We spend a lot of time with each other and I am very sorry to say, he has been a serious distraction to my studies.
On Friday night (tonight being Sunday) Kevin and I went ice-skating and had a good time. Then, on Saturday, two of my room-mates and I decided to go ice-skating again. Tina had never been, and Sheri had only been once, in 2nd grade.
So we went. I was having a good time teaching them to skate, when all of a sudden, an extremely good looking man skated by. I smiled at him and he smiled back. I was smitten. I smiled at him several times and even said "hi". I noticed that he seemed to be alone and I decided to go up to him and strike a conversation.
I skated right up to him and asked "Are you here alone?" Indeed he was. We ended up skating together for the rest of the evening. In fact, when my room-mates were ready to leave, he asked if I could drop them off and come back; because he wanted to skate with me some more. So I did.
I found out his name is William Doyle Watson (Bill for short) and he is 22. Unfortunately, he has not been to college. I say unfortunately because I am extremely attracted to him and I have always imagined that I could not date anyone who is less educated than I. (Oh, I was an arrogant idiot! And it is rather ironic that my grammar is all shot to... well, you get the idea.) Also unfortunately because my mother did not sound too pleased about the fact that I liked an "uneducated" man.
He may not know as much about ancient cultures and modern philosophies as I, but he knows how to be a perfect gentleman and there was nothing coarse or unrefined about his manners.
He held my hand while we skated, and he bought drinks for myself and my room-mates (at least, he would have bought my room-mates drinks, but they declined) He is around 6 feet tall and has dark sandy blond (brownish) hair and beautiful blue eyes. His smile would melt the hardest of hearts. He is working as a construction worker, but that is not what he wants to do in life. It sounded like he was interested in attending college.
Do I sound twitter-pated?
The rink was closed early due to all of the snowfall (it was snowing heavily the whole time), so Bill asked me to have dinner with him. We went to a restaurant called Shashoney's (I am not sure if that is the correct spelling) [It was Shoney's, actually] We had a wonderful time. He kept holding my hand, opening doors for me, and being a total gentleman.
After dinner, he drove me back to my car (which we had left at the skating rink parking lot), then he got out and scraped the windows for me! Then I told him I had a wonderful time & he said "me too, I didn't expect to be going on a date tonight!" Then he gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek.
It all seems so unreal! It is like a fairytale or a dream!
Oh! Once when we were going around one of the curves on the rink, some teenage girls (I'd guess they were 10th grade) hollered "Hey, is she your girlfriend?"; and Bill said "Yes" I laughed and told him they were probably really disappointed.
So, now: What do I do? Should I tell Kevin about my "one night stand"? He is the one who said he wasn't ready to be committed to dating just one person. If Bill never calls me, then does Kevin really need to know? Or, if Bill does call & I start dating him, how will I tell Kevin & what will that do to him? Does the fact that I am extremely attracted to Bill mean that I have been fooling myself about my true feelings for Kevin? So many questions! Can I feel right about dating both of them; and is it moral/ethical to kiss two different guys at the same time? I don't know why I am stressing, he probably will never call.
This has all come at the worst possible time. Finals are this week and I am failing French. C'est la vie.
*****
Some of that is embarrassing to put out there. But, I promised not to self edit. So that is the real deal. Exactly what was going through my 22 year old head.
So weird to read that almost 20 years later!
I am so grateful for the journal entries I wrote while we were dating! Life is not easy, and our marriage has been through some ups and downs (as it has for every one, I'm sure). We were so young, full of life, optimism, and love.
Everyone entertains the thought "If I knew then what I know now, would I have made the same choice?" ....at least once in their lives. Most of us ask ourselves that question often.
The answer might change, depending on the circumstances at the time. But at this very moment I can say I would do everything the same. Love you, Bill!
0 comments:
Post a Comment