remembering

Ten years ago today, I visited my now collegiate alma-mater for a tour and interview. I wasn’t super-into the whole thing, and I really only went because my mom seemed to be extremely interested in the place. But, surprisingly (or not, since my mom and I are way too much alike anyway) by the time I left, I was pretty sure that THIS was where I wanted to go after high school graduation in June.

That evening, I had a date. I would be meeting a boy that I worked with at Wendy’s at a high school football game. Our schools were playing each other and when we talked on the phone earlier in the week (a phone call that turned into a three hour conversation about, probably, nothing- because in high school, weren’t we all just really good at talking about nothing for hours?) we made plans to meet for a date. Low-key, low-pressure.

I had been nursing a crush on this boy for a few months, after I first spotted him wearing his cute little Wendy’s hat and microphone headset in the drivethru window while I was waiting on customers in the front of the store. My life-long friend and neighbor Sarah also admitted to thinking he was hottie-hot-hot (even though she was currently dating the kicker for our high school football team) But together, we still shared drool stories and talked about how we wanted to pinch his cheeks (I’ll let you decide which ones…)

I never really talked to him much, because he seemed very quiet and shy, or just incredibly bored with the whole fast-food after-school job thing. And I’m a chicken-shit so of course I wasn’t going to make the first move and strike up a conversation about the new Pitas we were selling (anyone remember those? SO GOOD. I was really mad when we got rid of them.)

There were a few isolated moments of verbal communication between us, however. One was when he was working the back drive-thru window (the one where you pay) and I was working the front window (the one where you get your food) We both had on headsets, and he pressed the little button that allows you to talk within the store to everyone else wearing a headset, and asked if I could “get this guy’s money, ’cause he drove past the window without paying”. Yeah. ROMANTIC. Then another time I think we were both in the manager’s office getting our paychecks or requesting time off or something, and he bumped into me while I was holding a small cup of Sprite and it spilled on my arm. He said “oops, sorry”. Again.. ROMANTIC.

The whole date thing came about when my friend Sarah (who I simultaneously wanted to KILL and HUG at the same time when she told me she did this) got to talking to him one day when I wasn’t working.

SARAH: So, you know that Jen girl who works here?

BOY: Uh-huh, I think so.

SARAH: Well, she basically wants you really bad.

BOY: Oh really? Well maybe I’ll call her.

SARAH: Sure, here’s her number!

Yeah. So that same night I coincidentally stopped in to the store with some family who was in town for something to eat, and she called me up to the counter to tell me about the big conversation. Like I said- I wanted to kill her or at least beat her senseless for saying it like she said it, but at least he had my number! Maybe he’d call! yay!

Sure enough, when I got home, he had left a message with my sister. I called him back and thus ensued the 3 hour conversation of nothing.

So. Ten years ago today. The big date at the football game.

It wasn’t a particularly glamourous night or fancy or even particularly entertaining (high school football, right?) but we had a nice time sitting with my friends and getting to know each other a bit. One of the questions he asked me was ‘What did you do today?’ I shared that I had been at a college interview at Grove City, and he smiled and said, ‘Hey, I think that’s where I’m going to go!’ Apparently he had already interviewed and applied and was just waiting to hear if he’d been accepted. So right away, we had something in common. yay!

At the end of the night, we were standing on his front porch saying goodbye. I felt that the night had gone pretty well… but honestly I hadn’t been on many ‘real’ dates, so I didn’t have much to compare it to. As I was standing there, looking at this adorable boy, I decided to do it.

I kissed him.

Six years later, we got married. Today, I am pregnant with his baby.

Happy 10 years, Turd Sandwich. I love you.

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