Quattuordecim

Today is the 14th anniversary of mine and Micky's first date! I can remember it like it was yesterday-- down to the outfit I wore and everything. Micky planned the date, and all he would tell me was what type of shoes to wear. He picked me up in his black and gray GMC Jimmy and gave me the tape of the single "I Swear" by John Michael Montgomery. (A few weeks before while we were at our Junior prom-- with other dates!-- this song had played and we had looked across the room and it was like a tv moment, we just knew!) Then he took me for a picnic consisting of Hardee's fried chicken, rolls, and sweet tea at Harbison Park. At the time, it was a lovely park inhabited mainly of mama ducks and their ducklings waddling about-- now it's inhabited mainly by thugs and their crime :-( After dinner, we went to the Melting Pot for dessert and then to Finlay Park where we sat on the swings and talked awhile (we really liked parks!). I had to be home kinda early, 10:30, because we were both taking the SAT the next morning. It was a great date!
Most of our friends and family know this is our first date anniversary-- due to the fact that every year I go on about it ad nauseam! But few of them know that our first date was supposed to have been April 29th. It was postponed a week due to Micky getting GROUNDED! First, you need to know that our Latin teacher in high school was a great woman but not too much on the teaching side of things... we spent 3 years in Latin and watched more Spartacus type films and colored more pictures of gladiators and coliseums than you can imagine. This didn't bother us at all-- at test time the class (which consisted of about 12 of some of my closest friends) would get to "share" a test. Which Micky would take and we would all get A's! So, while we took Latin to prepare us for our careers in medicine and law, it mainly taught us how to completely circumvent all authority and get a good grade while doing so. The fact that I was able to pass the Latin exam upon entering college and exempt my foreign language classes still amazes me to this day! Anyway~ our Latin class was taking a field trip to Charleston, and Micky and a few of the guys decided that instead of riding the bus they would drive themselves. And instead of doing the field trip agenda, they would visit the beach, walk around town, and have lunch at T-Bonz. (I still have the t-shirt he brought me from T-Bonz!) Well, I don't think he got grounded because he drove, our Latin teacher was well aware of their plans even though his parents weren't, but he was grounded for the idiotic thing he did to get caught! That's his story to share--not mine so I'll leave it at that. I am still so thankful that I didn't go with them--not that they did anything crazy or something like that-- but because his mom still remembers who was riding with him and to this day will ask about them with a certain tone in her voice :-) I get the feeling our relationship (mine and Micky's mom) would be much different had I been in that car too!
So while I always remember this as being the date of our first date, it also makes me think about the silly things we did in high school that we sometimes got caught at! (Notice the word sometimes!) A lot has changed in fourteen years, Micky has long since gotten rid of the black Appalachian State hat he wore EVERYDAY for 2 years (oh, I loved how he looked in that hat!) I finally convinced myself to get rid of the outfit I wore on that first date(paisleys just aren't coming back in style-- not sure if they ever were but I loved that outfit!), and we're now the parents thinking about the days to come when our girls will try crazy things in high school and we'll have to ground them. But somethings never change-- every time I hear "I Swear" not only do I think of our glances at Junior prom, I think of our first date, Micky's wedding ring I had it engraved on, our first dance at our wedding, and all of the great things that have followed since that first date!
You guys let me know if you see any black App State hats for sale!