M 'n' M: My Last First Date

 

     On May 31st 2011 my life changed dramatically, wonderfully forever. I got engaged to the man of my dreams. In a gazebo that played an integral role in one of our favorite dates of courtship, Matt asked me if I would marry him. Tearfully I accepted his proposal, my heart swelling with joy. That gazebo now has two very significant memories in the Matt-and-Mitch-dating-catalog. But as I reminisce on all the memories in that precious catalog, the most significant (and my personal favorite) would have to be the date that started it all.

     Now, as a little back story, it was quite a long process for us to get to that first date. One summer a few years back I got a message from a dating site I was on notifying me of a new message. Opening it up, I saw Matt's picture for the first time accompanied by a message with an offer to get to know each other. At the time I was already in a relationship so I ignored it. A few months after that, when said relationship was on the rocks, I sent Matt an email. Which he ignored :P Then several months after that, when we were both officially unattached, we found each other on a different site and picked up where we left off, so to speak. After a few days of texts and chats we finally made a date.

     A part of that night I find humorous (though I'm not so sure Matt does) is that I had actually double booked that night. I had made two dates, dinner with Matt being the first, which I had planned to leave fairly early to get to the second date. But as I ran into him in the parking lot of the restaurant, I was struck a bit by "love at first sight." And as dinner progressed, with lively conversation of being gay in Utah, family, religion, interests and activities, etc. I knew I was NOT going to make it to that second date! After nearly three hours of conversation over chicken parmesan and chicken picatta, I had the tingly feeling that I had found someone really special. So dinner concludes and we both want to spend more time together that night, though both of us played it cool and tried not to show our eagerness. Setting our coyness aside, we decided to go bowling up at the U of U campus. In the middle of the game, Matt turns to me and says he like to make a little wager, winner take all. If he wins, then we go to his place and continue the date. After a few more frames go by I turn to him and say that if I win, he has to take me back to his place and continue the date :)

     Little did I know, back when we were making the date and he told me to pick a day, I picked his birthday. It wasn’t until a week or two later that I had realized this and felt mortified that I didn’t know and that he spent his birthday taking someone else out. But today, he says I was the best birthday present he ever received~ 

     And that, I can happily say, was my last first date.