I'll be the first to admit, after suffering a horrendous sunburn on my Booty, I was not in the best of moods that evening & was probably not on my "A" game. But one thing I'm sure of is my "B" game trumps anyone else's "A" game. Cocky? No. Just a fact.
It was pretty obvious that Aubrey was into me as soon as I got to the door. She giggled in excitement and while she was not quite prepared for the loving I gave her at the door we left arm in arm & with smiles on our faces.
I had planned a very romantic evening, straight out of the movies. It involved grapes, cowboy poetry, a bonfire started with flint and steel (my belt buckle) & sparkling cider, all trademarks of a true gentleman.
The devil to a good date is found in the details:
In addition to buying some dashingly delicious grapes, I had also bought some Axe Body Spray cologne at the Walmart earlier in the day and generously applied it before our date. It wasn't my first choice in cologne, but I'd left mine back in Montana, and I'd seen a news broadcast/commercial earlier in the day where some lady in the supermarket couldn't get enough of some man wearing the same cologne and tackled him right there in the supermarket!
I didn't expect Aubrey to react EXACTLY the same way, but I did expect to have her compliment me on my incredible smell. Let's just say once she got a wiff of me, she was putty in my hands.
I rented a real nice Dodge Stratus for our date and had sprayed some of the Axe body spray in there. I also purchased some of those "black ice" scented trees that drive the ladies CRAZY. Aubrey seriously couldn't get enough. I was worried I wasn't going to get her out of the car with the explosion of scents that was rocking her world!
The car ride we spent some time getting to know each other just a little better. I was really interested in what made Aubrey "tick" and wanted to peel away the superficial early and get to the deep stuff; hopes, dreams, ambitions, what keeps her awake at night, wake makes her scared... I wanted to find out the things that mattered most.
Aubrey was a little hesitant and told me about how excited she was to meet me, and was SO happy with how open and honest I was with her. She said that even though she was excited, she was also very scared. What does the future hold for us? Can she really churn butter? Is it possible to fall in love that quickly?
I thought she might be a little nervous, and I was prepared to talk her through these big changes, and shared with her the story of my friend Jessie... She had some big things going for her in her life, but didn't know how to handle them and took drugs. We talked about how sometimes in life we get so excited, so excited, so excited for big changes, but a tiny part of us gets scared. Going away to school I was so excited, but at the same time so scared. Serving a mission? Same thing... so excited, but so scared. Meeting Aubrey? Even I was excited and scared. But each time I stepped into the dark, I was amazed at how the next step was illuminated for me and everything has worked out.
This immediately calmed Aubrey down and we held each other for a good 45 minutes while we waited for the cameras to arrive. It felt so right having Aubrey in my arms, listening to George Michael on repeat. Aubrey told me that she was so upset she had to go on so many other dates, and that if she could just quit the show right then she'd be happy. While I really REALLY wanted her to just stay in my arms, running her fingers through my stache. I realized that it wouldn't be fair to the other contestants that wanted to take her out. Besides, I think spending time with some other boys would really let her recognize just how great a match we really are, and hopefully allow her to recognize the man among boys that I am.
Towards the end of the date as we were walking hand in hand, talking about baby names, my slightly demented cousin who I had left in the hotel happened to bump into us. I tried to explain things to Aubrey and the cameraman, but she was visibly upset and left with Erin.
I can't say it was exactly how I wanted our date to end, with my crazy cousin pretending to be my "girlfriend", but... a little drama never hurt any relationship. If anything I've found that just increases the tension and brings the heat to a slow boil. I was able to explain things to Aubrey the next day and really cleared the air... unfortunately she had already vented her frustration on her blog for the evening.
I think we both learned a few good lessons from this experience:
First, at times I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.
Second, Never Assume the worst, when you're with the best
Will there be a date #2? Is the Pope Catholic? Yes. To both questions. And There will most likely be a date #3, #4 and #5... You can't stop fate.
