Friday night is designated date night, where I come from. (And by where I come from, I mean… planet earth. Because pretty much everyone wants to be out and about with the one they love/like/are into at the moment on a Friday night.)
Friday night spells the end of the work week and a chance to go out and blow off steam from the crazy week you have had.
Therefore Friday night is pretty much the busiest night of the week every where you choose to go. Darn. For a girl who doesn’t exactly relish crowds, this can be a bit of a problem.
So when Nicole asked me if I wanted to go out (last) Friday, I immediately said yes, and then wondered what we were going to do that would still be fun amidst all of the other couples trying to have a romantic evening. Besides that, I wanted to do something fun; something not a-typical. So I told her I wanted to pick the date spot this time around.
Fast forward to me, on Friday night, still trying to plan where the fuck we were going to go.
One day, I’m going to have to learn how to plan ahead.
I sat down with my iPad and Google and went to it after the kids were tucked safely in bed. A restaurant? Meh. Coffee? *Yawn* Bowling? Let’s put that on the maybe pile.
I shuffled through website after website until finally I lighted on an actually good idea.
Downtown there is a gorgeous outdoor skating rink that is open until 10:00pm every Friday night. And for reasons I can’t understand, it isn’t highly frequented. I sent Nicole a quick message asking her if she had skates.
N: Umm… yeah. Somewhere.
H: Excellent! Grab them! We’re going out!
I asked (forced) Brian to search through our crawl space for my old pair of skates and then quickly hit the road.
I picked up Nicole half an hour later and headed out to the skating rink, never once cluing into to the problem my last minute planning had caused me. (Have you figured it out yet?? No? Keep reading…)
We arrived at the skating rink and ditched the car at one of the in town parking lots and headed out across the snow-filled meadow toward the ice rink.
After the snow storm we had received that morning the place was pretty much disserted. I looked over at Nicole and smiled. “Looks like we’re going to have the place to ourselves,” I said with a smile.
“Romantic!” she said and began lacing up her skates.
I sat down next to her and began strapping up my own skates. I eyed her, self consciously.
Nicole is very athletic. She excels in every sport she does. She’s a runner. She’s a skater. She’s into tae kwon do, jiu jitsu, roller derby. She’s pretty much excellent at everything.
In other words she puts a tiny little thing like me, who happens to run on a treadmill occasionally, to complete shame.
“You ready to head out?” She asked offering me her hand.
“Yeah, definitely!” I said. I reached out for her gloved hand and we stepped onto the ice.
From the second my skates hit the solid ice, I knew something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.
My skates wouldn’t cooperate. They weren’t digging into the ice the way they should. Like a car on black ice I was floundering.
And that’s when it hit me.
I hadn’t sharpened my skates.
“You ok?” Nicole asked.
“Umm… no. Apparently you’re dating a moron.”
Nicole looked at me a little confused.
“I forgot to sharpen my skates before I came out.”
She began laughing hysterically. “When was the last time you skated?” She asked in between breaths.
“Umm… last winter?” I said.
That caused another round of laughter.
“Do you want to quit?”
“Hell no!”
She smiled. “We can, you know.”
“What are you talking about? Skating on unsharpened skates is great for the glutes!”
“Alright.”
“Just, don’t let go of my hand.”
Despite her best efforts I still fell about 10,596 times that night. But we stayed and skated for a good hour, circling the rink and taking in the gorgeous white Christmas lights that decorate the outdoor arena all season long. It really was a beautiful night. And for a good part of the night we had the rink to ourselves. As the hour wore on a few other brave couples joined us on the ice.
I caught a few backward glances from some of the other couples as they watched the two girls awkwardly circling the little pond.
I could see in their eyes the question; girlfriends or close friends?
As 10:00pm hit and the ice rink closed, we made our way over to the little coffee cart that had set up shop there and ordered a couple of hot chocolates to warm us up. We sat on one of the icy benches, huddled together, over our steaming cups of cocoa and people-watched.
There was what appeared to be a straight married couple on one of the benches in front of us. They sat on the same side of the bench, arms entwined; sharing their hot beverage.
They could have been newlyweds. They could have been married for 35 years and were planning to dance the funky chicken on their 85th wedding anniversary. But the love they felt for each other was evident in every gesture. Every word.
Nicole starred dreamily at them. “Do you think we’ll ever be like them?” she asked.
I looked over at the couple and couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt run through me. I was immediately reminded of why I wanted to find a married girl; to avoid situations just like this. Apparently I was excellent at making the same mistakes over and over again.
I took a breath and answered the only way I could, with the truth. “I don’t know.”
I don’t know. I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know what relationships will work. I don’t know which relationships will not. I don’t know where I will be in 5 years, let alone in 4 months. I don’t know.
But I do know that that kind of love is worth pursuing.
That made me so sad for you. What a wet rag of reality. Someone is going to get hurt. Boo.
Tammy recently posted..Our Yard Is A Bitch
Wet rag in deed. It was a complete reality check. The oh-yeah-this-is-why-I-stopped-texting-you-in-the-first-place-but-then-you-dragged-me-back-in-because-you’re-so-adorable-and-sexy-when-texting-and-apparently-I-have-no-will-power-of-my-own-check. *sigh*
Heather recently posted..Friday Night : Date Night
Yep, will power…
Wish I could buy a bottle of that stuff. Hell, I’d splurge for a case of it. (but it can be a lot more fun without it!!)
Directions on back of Will Power Perfume : Use in moderation.
Heather recently posted..Friday Night : Date Night
You fell 10,596 times? I read on Nicole’s blog that it was closer to 11,000! j/k
Thank you for sharing your date night. It’s hard sometimes to not be able to see the future. I always want to know how it’s going to end so I can decide if I should go down that path. I’ll let you know if I find a crystal ball!
So…you know your sex-crazed readers — or at least this sex-crazed reader — want to know if there was any kissing or touching to end this date? Any sparks?
No, no, no, no, no… it was 10,596! I know because that’s precisely how many bruises I have!
Although I can’t say I blame Nicole for losing count… it was a LOT of falling and hyperbole can get the best of any of us..
I, however, like to present the facts…*ahem*
Anyway. There may have been some kissing… and some… fun… but if I told you all about it right away then I wouldn’t have anything left to talk about later!!!
Heather recently posted..Friday Night : Date Night
Fair enough
I would have answered the same way. However to me when your in the dating stage it’s all about having fun and living in the moment. Looking forward to the future will come in time and when it feels right if your with the person long enough.
and like BiGirl I’ll be looking forward to reading about the ”
kissing… and some… fun”
Kara XOXO
hehehe… we all do! (The retelling of the kissing and fun that is…)
And I agree… dating should be about fun! Fun! Lots and lots of hot, heavy, sexy, fun! Damn it!
Ok… move closer to me. You and I get each other.
Sexy Lady….If I lived near you than you would never want to leave my place because we would be having so much fun. I couldn’t be that mean to your family and “steal” you like that LOL
XOXO
Unless I “misplaced” the keys to the handcuffs….than you might be trapped in my bed for the weekend until the locksmith comes back to work on Monday
Stop. You don’t need to know what will work and what won’t. It’s okay. Nicole seems capable of understanding your situation and flowing with it. As long as you stay honest about what you want and need and where you’re at, it will be good. Does that mean no one will get hurt? No, it doesn’t. It just means you’ll be mature, nurturing and care about each other and each do your best to minimize that hurt. But you can’t take it away fully so stop trying to remove her exposure to the hurt that *may* come with dating you. She’s an adult who is capable of making that decision on her own. Be upfront and it will be as close to fine as it can be. But don’t cut yourself off from great people and great experiences out of some need to protect them in advance. It’s not possible and you need to remember that. Dating is all about the risk of exhilaration and pain.
Thank you WWG.
As always I find myself smiling while I read your comments. You’re full of wisdom and I really appreciate it when you take the time to share some of it with me.
She is a grown up. She is perfectly capable of making her own decisions. She is perfectly capable of walking away if she isn’t getting what she needs from me. I did tell her in the very beginning exactly who I was and what I was looking for. It was all honest and upfront.As long as we stay that way… we’ll be good.
And you are correct, you can’t live your life terrified of falling….
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