And The Award For Best Date Goes To...

It's almost Valentine's Day and it's award season. Not that I care about either but since I'm on the subject of love and mushy stuff, I have decided to give out a few awards to past dates that I've gone on.

Best Date

I was living in Salt Lake City, Utah at the time and my cousin, Matt set me up on a blind date. I can't remember the guy's name or even what he looked liked, but boy did we have a good time. It was the kind of date where I didn't have to explain my life story. I wasn't expected to have my life figured out.

The date was very simple, but super fun! It was a double date, thankfully. Matt, his date, me and my date started off the evening at Smith's Marketplace, a chain grocery and drugstore, where we purchased kites. If I'm honest, I wasn't too keen on my kite; it was a little boy's kite and the graphics on it were kind of lame, but it was the best they had. We stopped at Subway and picked up some fresh sandwiches before heading up to Big Cottonwood Canyon. We stopped at a picnic area at the bottom of the mountain, ate our subs and chatted. We weren't too concerned with anyone's life decisions or career choices or living situation. We were just four twenty-somethings having a picnic.

After we ate, we hiked a little ways up the mountain; not too far, just enough to get out of the trees. There was a nice clearing and we spent some time learning to fly kites, avoiding crashes with each other's kite, and basking in the peace and calm you feel when your kite is sailing in the sky. We were up there for a couple of hours before we hiked back down and went home.

I didn't fall in love. I didn't even develope a crush on my date (who was a great guy, just not the one for me). But I had a good time flying kites and not feeling pressured to explain my life's decisions to him. It's not always the most expensive dates you have the most fun on. It wasn't even the most creative; it was just a new activity with a new guy and no pressure. I remember it fondly.

Worst Date

Of course for every best date, there is a worst date. I started dating this guy when I was in my early twenties-we'll call him John*. One day, John calls me and says, "Let's go to the movies with Tim and Cindy. Meet us a Tim's house." I lived very close to John but I didn't mind meeting him at Tim's house, even though Tim lived on the opposite side of town.

When I got to Tim's house, no one was home. I go to the neighbor's house (I knew the guy) and use his phone because this was before cell phones were common. I call John who is still at home and tells me to meet him there instead. So, a little irritated, I drive all the way back across town to John's. When I walk in, John, Tim, and Cindy are going through the couch cushions to find change to pay for their movie tickets. As if the money situation wasn't enough of a joke already, we leave John's house to find a One Star machine to change coins into cash.

When we get to the theater, John steps up to the window and asks for a single ticket. I realize that I need to purchase my own ticket (which is not my idea of a date), adding kindling to the irriatated fire. I pay for my own ticket and decide that if I'm going to make through the rest of this "date" feigning happiness and love, I'm going to need a soda. I go to the snack counter and of course, purchase my own drink.

In the theater, John sits on my left and put my soda in the drink holder to the right. As we wait for the trailers to start, I see John turn and look at me out of the corner of my eye. He then SMACKS his lips and tongue, making an audible and disgusting noise. I know what he wants but there is no way I'm playing his game.

I turn to him and coolly ask, "What?"

Still not using his words like a big boy, he motions for my drink. MY drink! The one I paid for after paying for my movie ticket. After driving half way across town and back to go on a movie date he asked me to go on. The nerve! The audacity!

I begrudingly let him have a drink of my soda. When he was finished he set it in the cup holder between us. I picked it up, took a good swig from it, and set it back in the cup holder to the right of me.

I'd like to say that was the only time he made that awful mouth-lip-smack noise to alert me of his thirst, but it wasn't. He only did it a couple more times, but it irritated me every time.

John and I didn't have a long relationship.

Date Worth Mentioning

One Valentine's Day, a boy I had a crush on asked me to go to Disneyland with him on a double date. So fun! He didn't pick me up empty handed; he brought me chocolates in a velvet candy box. The four of us went on rides, goofed around the park and had a good time.

The boys had a reservation at The Blue Bayou for dinner. With my entree came a dinner salad with cherry tomatoes on top. I wasn't a fan of tomatoes at the time, but my dates friend said he would eat them. I took my fork and attempted to stab a tomato…which flew off my plate and out into the dark restaurant.

Remember that scene in Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts is trying to eat escargot but it slips off her utensil and the waiter smoothly catches it? Julia was able to smile and say, "Slippery little suckers." I was not as cute, but we all laughed about it and continued to have a good time.

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the worst date loser winner and his friends.

Susan "Let's Go Fly A Kite, Up To The Highest Height" B.