Flashback Friday -- Date Night

This week's flashback is triggered by the fact that tonight is Date Night.  For Christmas this past year I gave Scott "The 12 Dates of Christmas" as my gift.  The last Friday of each month for this whole year I have already booked the baby-sitter (always the hardest part) and planned an activity.  On the agenda for tonight?  Scott is going to teach me how to drive a stick shift.  Super exciting, huh?  Hahahaha.  I figure  since Scott's "new" car  is a stick I should probably be able to drive it in an emergency.  We will probably also get dinner and dessert while we're out, but while I was checking earlier today to see what I had planned for tonight I was totally reminded of a Youth Fireside back in the day where we were all given a list of "Creative Dating Ideas."  I've saved it all these years because even back then I recognized what a GOLDMINE for ridicule the list was.  Some of these "ideas" are so ludicrous they border on insane.  I have no idea where our youth leaders got this list or what made them think that impressionable Young Men and Young Women should be tricked into thinking that this is what dating was supposed to be like, but here for your entertainment are some of my favorites of the 233 items comprising the list. Hahahaha.

{All italicized bits are my own emphasis or commentary.}

6.  Go rabbit hunting.
9.  Picket you own house.
16.  Paint a barn or a house...or a car.  {The dot dot dot here is something I find particularly funny.}
20.  Go bug collecting.
26.  Play hopscotch in a parking lot.
29.  Rent Hondas
47.  Spend the afternoon photographing your date in parks, climbing trees, wading streams, smelling flowers, running in fields of clover.
61.  Go panning for gold, looking for precious stones.
67.  Clean out an attic, back porch, garage or basement, and have a garage sale.  Then give the money to your date and let her treat you to an evening out.
69.  Make a pair of sandals.
77.  Plaster of paris and an idea usually make a creative project.
89.  Build an old-fashioned loom and make Indian rugs to decorate your apartment.
97.  Go shopping for groceries late at night and waltz down the aisles to the piped-in music.
113.  Shop for diamonds at jewelry stores.    {Seriously?}
114.  See what kind of good deed you can do for a quarter.
119.  Organize your own rodeo. Have bull-riding and bronco busting and include a greased pig chase for everyone.
135.  Put together a puppet show; sew up your own puppets, write out a script, and entertain your friends.  Or better yet, take your show on the road and go to children's homes and hospitals in your area.
143.  Weave baskets.
144.  Kidnap your date.
146.  Have a long talk about goals in life.
167.  Go to a potato chip factory and watch these crunchy morsels being made.  Then sample a few.
190.  Cook your date spaghetti for dinner and use everything but a fork to eat it with.
194.  Build a treehouse.
198.  Make your date a bookshelf for her apartment.
214.  Start a pet club, raise turtles, birds, etc.
220.  Dress up in costumes and go trick-or-treating.
221.  Brush her hair.
222.  Visit a friend who has a color TV.   {Clearly this list was created a WHILE ago.}
233.  Learn to meditate.

And then, in ANOTHER episode of unintentional comedy, the packet is finished off with a paragraph that begins by saying, "A list like this can be useful, but we need to remember the purpose and function of our dating, and not get carried away with just being novel."  Hahahahahahahaha.  Thanks buddy.  Good to know.

So there you have it -- a blast from the past. And just for the record, as crazy as all these ideas are, I really do think that with the right people anything can be fun if you MAKE it fun.  So the next time Scott and I decide to make a pair of sandals you're all invited to join us.  Hahahahahahahahahaha.