Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. One of the few manufactured Holidays that I actually liked. Telling people you love them...just seems like a good idea to me. And it covers the spectrum (no , not that one). You get to give your Mom, Grandmother, Sisters, Wives, Children, heck, anybody you actually care about...it is okay to give them a Valentines Card - chocolate is almost always required...and flowers for the extra special folk.
I have the best Valentines gift of all time, as my daughter was born on Valentine's Day.
It is wonderful to have a someone Romantically linked on Valentine's Day too. Your first sweetheart, your first fiancé , or your first year as Man and Wife. All those are special and different. So that got me to thinking about dating. As that is where it all starts. Some dates turn out nice...and maybe you get a friend out of it. Some dates...not so much. Other dates, turn into the "One". And you get married or move in together...or both.
So I was thinking about how brave you have to be to just ask a girl out. And now, much later in life, I realize how a girl agreeing to go out...is a massive display of trust. So they are way braver saying "yes, I will go out with you." Then you are for building up the courage to go over and ask her out.
But I digress.
I wanted to tell you all about the strangest way I ever met a girl, and got to go on a date with her. I was all of 21 years old. My old girl and I had just ended our engagement a few months earlier. And I wasn't really looking to go out with anybody. I was just sort of licking my wounds and had given up on girls. LOL
I was Downtown in a crowded elevator in the Terminal Tower. There must have been ten of us crammed into that little elevator. It was just at the end of lunch hour, and everyone was racing to get back to the Office.
There was a cute girl in there with us, maybe 19 or 20. And a few older women (you know thirty or so.LOL). The rest were Business Men in their Suits and ties.
When a rancid smell hit everyone. And I mean rank. Everyone was making that "Stank face". Everyone tried to cover their noses. or mouths. One lady said out loud: "Jesus Christ!"
Another guy, quite put out- said bluntly: "Who shit!?"
I looked over at the that young girl, and she was beet red, and ready to burst into tears. I figured it out right away.
So I said in very apologetic embarrassed tone:
"I am so sorry. That was me. I must have eaten something that didn't agree with me."
That same blunt guy said:
"Whatever you ate, it must have been dead for a long time."
That broke the tension. Believe me when we finally stopped at the next floor someone wanted to get off at...EVERYONE bursted out, like a busted water mane. Nobody cared if it was their floor...they just wanted out.
People who were waiting took one step toward our now empty elevator...and backed away waving their hands in front of their faces. the doors finally closed ...with an empty elevator.
I went over to look out a window (we were pretty high up). I felt a tug on my shirt. I turned and that cute girl just wrapped me in her arms and said:
"Thank you so much." And she cried.
I just kinda patted her back and said it would be okay. We chatted for a bit, and she thanked me over and over again for taking the heat for her. We agreed to go out dancing on the next Saturday. Since she was from the East Side of Town, and I lived way out on the West side of Town in a suburb. We decided to meet for dinner first and then dancing. I told her I would bring a buddy, and she would bring her best friend.
So we met at a nice little greasy spoon she knew of. Everyone laughed when we told the story of how we met. And we went dancing. And wouldn't you know it, we had a great time. But...she really liked my buddy from work. I mean really liked him. They moved in together like three months later. And got married just a few months after that.
At their Wedding she gave me partial credit for meeting the man of her dreams. When people asked her how she met her guy...she would say: "I farted."
So I guess it all worked out. I met my Kathy seven years later...no farting needed. LOL