48 hour first dates...

Before I get to involved in the story of the first time I took my future wife out, I better make sure you understand the cast. DrWho, our heroin, is refered to as Julie in the story. Josh, my dearly beloved best friend posts here under the name Jones. It's a matter of trivia that my wife used to dream of marrying Josh, prior to meeting me. Josh was in the weddin', he was just the most bestest man, as apposed to the groom. I, of course, am me dammit.

To set the stage a bit... well... no.. that's a tale for another day... Let's just say that Julie wanted me to take her to prom, and I said, "Look man, I'm an asshole. I don't want to screw up your senior prom. Maybe we better go on a not-so-important date first. If you still want me to, then I'll take ya." Strangely enough... that worked... and come the next Friday, I headed off to Manchester, TN to meet her.

So it's friday night and I show up at Julie's house. Typical stuff. Meet the family blah blah blah. It's amazing though how these first few minutes will shape the rest of your life. For example, Josh, my best friend, happened to also be a friend of Julie's sister Jill. So when I first saw Jill, she said, "You know Josh right?"

"Yeah.. I know Josh... he said you were a wench." Now looking back that's probably not the best thing to say to a girl when you first meet them. I figured she knew Josh, and knew that Josh would never say something like that. She just figured I was a dick.

So.. after that disaster we hop in my sweet ride, a 1987 Escort EXP baby, and head off to meet Josh, and his girlfriend Sasha, a hot little blonde who I failed to introduce in what was clearly an incomplete cast of characters. At any rate, we got to sasha's house and Josh saw us pull in. Now to be honest, as far as friends go, Josh and I were pretty cruel to each other. But hey... it was all in fun. So as soon as Josh sees us pull up, he grabs sasha up(she was tiny)and sprints to the Three-Mobile (his car), and peels out of the driveway. Naturally, I give chase.

What I didn't realize is that Manchester actually builds their roads at right angles. There is no curve in intersections. So as I make a hard right, I find that I have made it to hard. The right front tire drops 2 feet into a ditch and pops against a culvert. sheeeee-it.

Ok... so we now have to change a tire. No biggy. So I get the car jacked up, loosen all the lugs and pull the tire off. Sept.. the tire doesn't come off. So I pull again. No luck. Not good. Wait... whats that... rain.. nice...

So thankfully there is a house nearby, and I go ask the old fella for something to get the tire off. He provided me with anciet wisdom. When in doubt, hit it with a sledge hammer. I did... and the damned wheel sure enough came off. I got the temp tire put on and lowered the car. We thanked the old fella and just as we were about to head out.. click. Yup. Dead Battery. So girls and boys, we're standing in the rain outside this old timer's house, waitin' on him to come out and jump the car off... and I just couldn't resist. I leaned over and kissed Julie on the cheek. First kiss yall. Honest truth. The girl was so sweet and innocent she was afraid the old timer was gonna see us and think she was some kinda tramp! HA! Cracks me up still...

Anyway God bless him, the old fella jumped the car and we were finally off. I knew I couldn't make it home, so I was stuck in the awkward situation of asking my date's mom if I could spend the night. I seriously doubt the woman regrets anything more than saying yes, but thank God, she did.

Well anyway Julie and I stayed up all night talking... then we headed out first thing in the morning to get the tire changed. We spent all saturday at the park, just hanging out and enjoying the day. Honest to God boys, call me a wuss if ya like, but I was stupid-kid-in-love.

Around 4:30pm I was fixing to head out. Julie gives me this look and says, "Tommarow's easter. Did you say your church had sunrise services on Easter?"

"Ummmm... yeah."

"I've never been to one. Mind if I come home with ya and go to it?"

"Ummmm... No... I mean.. that would rule man."

Julie runs off to tell ask her mom about it, and for the second time in as many days, her mom makes a decision that she's bound to regret for the rest of her life. Her Mom played the, "Your old enough to make the right decision" card, figuring guilt would win the day.

We got to Nashville around 6:00pm.

So the first time my mom ever lays eyes on Julie is when I walk in and say, "Hey Mom! This is Julie, she's goin' to church with us in the mornin'".

Obviously I have a cool mom.

No worries. Those two hit it off immediately and they have been best buds ever since.

To cut to the chase, we stayed up all night again. We missed the sunrise service, but we managed to watch the sunrise together. Still the best Easter of my life though. We played in Nashville the rest of sunday, and then I drove her home.

I knew I was gonna marry that girl. No question in my mind.