Dating Without Grace

Not all women are graceful and elegant. No. Some of us are all left footed, gangly armed, and not quite sure if we ever learned to walk correctly. I am one of those women. I have never been graceful. As a child in dance class the instructor’s encouraged my mother to keep me coming because I would eventually grow gracefully into my body… By high school my dance instructors begged my mother to stop bringing me, I was never going to arabesque into a graceful swan. In my life thus far I’ve fallen walking on smooth sidewalks, stepping out of moving cars, and rolled out of bed while sleeping over 27 times. Before you start throwing medical scare my way, you should know there is absolutely nothing wrong with me. I just lack the sense of grace.

Well, on this fine occasion I was headed out on a first date with a gentleman I had liked many times over, but we had always seem to be in different places at different times. And now we were in the same place at the same time! It was exciting! He was a singer, an athlete, and a brainiac. The dreamiest Nerd you can imagine.

It was around the winter holidays and pretty ugly in the suburbs of our Midwest Metro area. Slushy snow, wet, cold and dark – we opted to rent a movie since many places were closed and nothing good was showing at the local theatre. We parked, he made a hilarious joke about Atoms versus Adams, and mid-laugh I jumped out of his car – an SUV– and before I felt my feet hit the ice I was down. Down for the count, but where did I go down? I went so far down I slipped on the ice, did an about face and landed on my back under his car with only my head peaking out from beneath his chrome, tubular side step. Pure humiliation made me believe I could stay in this position and never come out. He begged and even tried bribing me out from under the car and when that didn’t work he made a few jokes regarding running me over, which he was instantly apologetic for and realized they were just inappropriate and not funny.

Thankfully this charming and sweet man came to his senses and realized exactly what needed to be done. After grabbing me by the armpits and pulling me out and up; & while I stood there frozen from the slushy water and mud, he found the largest pot hole in the lot - filled to the brim with melting muddy ice and snow - and he threw himself in it. Like a pro. LIKE A PRO. We were matching wet and cold idiots.

It was too wonderful of a gesture to not agree to many more dates. Unfortunately, we did not make a romantic match. But we shared a lot of laughs and I have so many fond memories to cherish.

#dating #jaimeparkerstickle