High School dance dates

I had to plan a date a week or two ago. As Sister was giving me ideas, I started shooting them down. "No, Sister. I'm not going to take him to a grocery store and play The Price is Right with the items on the shelf. That's so high school dance." Finally I told her (and to Mom later that balked at the idea of me shooting all the ideas down) that anything I had to explain to the guy was out. It would be silly. I would be judged for it. "But, you need a guy who will be silly. He has to accept you for being silly. If he doesn't like the date, then you know he's out," explained Mom. I saw the logic, but still couldn't agree. Yes, I'm silly, but I've grown... I've matured. Oh sure, I loved going bowling for Sadie Hawkins where we assigned each color of Skittles a kind of bowling (Granny Bowling, left-handed bowling, on your stomach and pushing, etc.) then every time you went up, you had to blindly draw a Skittle and bowl like that. Yes, that was fun. Even if I had to explain it to the guy first. But I was a Junior in high school! I cannot stoop to that level now. People around me have matured and grown up. I must be like them. Yet, in the back of my mind lingered all the fun times I had on dates because my mom and her cousin were willing to be wild and crazy for us. But that was different.

Today I helped Foreman in a Cloak and Dagger kind of activity. It was great fun. Holy cow it was great fun. He has gone to some lengths to get a date, that's for sure. And somehow, having him do something crazy like that was ok. Amazing, even. Completely socially acceptable. So why not for me? Part of me really wants to do something extravagant and crazily silly for a date. Though, I still think I'd prefer if it were the guy doing the asking and planning. Well, I'd be willing to help plan. Like, if he said, "Let's do something extravagant and crazily silly for a date. High school dance fashion, even," then I'd be all about helping plan. Especially if I knew the guy and he wouldn't judge me for having crazy ideas. I mean, really, part of me still wants to fulfill my girlhood dream of driving through a drive-thru backwards. But I would never be able to do it. He would have to do the driving. And I would sit in the passenger seat laughing and being embarrassed. But, I would love it. Then I would come home raving to my roommates about how I loved the date and how he can actually be silly and fun and how that was so good for me.

Despite it all, I don't foresee myself planning any such dates in the future. Largely because I don't foresee myself planning any dates in the near future. But also because the social structural wall around me still won't allow it. Next step? Find a guy who will talk me into doing such things. And not be awkward about it. And do it in such a way that I won't be embarrassed about it. Really, that's not too much to ask, is it? [innocent smile]