Dad, Tell Me About the Time (35)

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Where did you go on your first date?

It is impossible to know when our first date was because Lisa and I started out as friends. We did a lot of stuff together which was easy because we were actually living together. I was living with Greg and Gaylia while going to school, paying them room and board and because Lisa was having a rough time at home with her mother, Greg and Gaylia invited her to stay with them for a while.

I remember we would go on shopping trips and I would invite her to the young adult activities and we spent a lot of time together. Two things happened that made it clear to me that our friendship was growing into something more than just a friendship.

The first thing happened at church. At that time, church was done in two separate one blocks. We would meet once in the morning and have an hour of Sunday School followed by an hour of Priesthood Meeting and Relief Society and then we’d come back in the afternoon for Sacrament Meeting. The Sacrament was passed in both Sunday School and again later in Sacrament Meeting. While the adults were having Sunday School, the younger kids, under twelve, were having Primary. They had an hour of sharing time together and then split to classes for another hour. The Primary would have their own little Sacrament in their sharing time.

The young adults were often asked to bless the sacrament in Primary so that the Priests could attend Sunday School. Lisa taught a primary class and one Sunday Dave Butler and I were blessing the Sacrament. He was checking out Lisa and commented to me how cute she was and maybe he should ask here out. Lisa was only sixteen and while I liked her a lot, I’d never thought of her as more than a friend. When Dave expressed an interest in her I was instantly jealous and I wondered why I couldn’t take her on a date.

The second thing happened at home. My bedroom was upstairs in Gregs house and Lisa’s bedroom was in the basement. I remember one time I was down in her bedroom and we were both just talking. The next thing I knew, Gaylia came storming into the room yelling and screaming and I realized that it was 3:00am. It was not long after that, that Lisa moved back home and I moved into an apartment with some friends. It was no longer appropriate for us to live in the same house.

In reality, Lisa and I had already been on several dates by the time we became an item, but I guess our first “official” date would have been during that first Christmas when she was at her Grandma Ashmeads in Lethbridge and I was in Cardston at home. I think that might have been our first trip skiing in Fernie. I don’t remember the exact date but it would have been Christmas 1979. It was that night that I first kissed her and she promptly responded by hitting me.