Strat Approves of Steve and My...Marriage??

I called Steve on Wednesday, the day after I met Strat. I was kind of nervous but I thought "Do it! For the sake of the blog!" and pressed call!
Steve was really nice on the phone! We talked for exactly 17 minutes. He was really happy and excited I called. He said "Well I don't know if I can visit Strat tonight, but maybe tomorrow." I was thinking like within the next week, but hey the sooner the better right?
Steve said "What are you doing at 2 tomorrow?"
I said "Well I have a mentoring thing"
"Oh what's that?"
I started. "Well I really like mentoring, like I was an EFY Counselor this summer"
He said "Wait! You were an EFY Counselor?! SO WAS I!!!"
Of course I knew that after my thorough facebook stalkage and that is why I slipped that statement in in the first place, but I said "NO WAY!! That's CRAZY!" Haha! I'm so clever ;)
So we talked about that for a while. But the reason he asked me what I was doing is because he wanted to ask me out to lunch for the next day (Friday) before even knowing what I looked like! I guess the EFY comment did it!!

OUR LUNCH DATE

So the next day we went out to lunch! I was kind of nervous to meet him but I reminded myself that I'm awesome and went for it! I think it's funny I'm so opposed to blind dates and yet I set MYSELF up on one...sort of.
Anyways we met at the MOA and the first thing he did when he saw me is run up to me and hug me! Brave man!
We had such a delightful lunch. He truly is the squeaky clean mormon boy facebook implied- my favorite kind of boy! He loved his mission, and he told me about how much his testimony grew at EFY. It was fun to talk to him! So fun, in fact, that he ended up being late for class! I felt kind of bad but also awesome that he preferred me to Chemistry.
He suggested we visited Strat that very night! So we did.

WE VISIT STRAT

We went to visit Strat on that Friday night. He is SO FUNNY! He couldn't wait for us to come! He ran around the house tidying up attached to that oxygen tank.
He said "Now did you two meet because of me?!"
We looked at each other and laughed and said "Yeah"
Strat said "Well I formed a little friendship for the two of you didn't I?"
We found out basically everything about Strat. The man loves to talk and he can barely hear us anyways. His wife died a few years ago of cancer, and his son died when he was younger while doing service in Mexico. So sad. He told us story after story after story.
He loved talking about his wife and how much he loves her. He pulled out a box and said "Now I have some advice for the two of you if things progress as they should and when you get married"
MARRIED?! I didn't notice until then but Steve was sitting pretty close to me and practically lept away from me when he said "the m word!" Hallelujah! He is not a marriage-obsessed-BEN!
Noticing our alarm, Strat said "Well it has the potential to go there. Doesn't it Steve? Doesn't it?"
Steve stuttered and I was laughing.
Strat said "DOES IT? Yes or no??"
Steve stammered "Um we just met today!"
HAHA!
Strat said "Well. In these box are our love letters. When you two get hitched you need to read these love letters to each other on every anniversary! That will keep your relationship strong!"
We both agreed that that was good advice.
Strat proceeded to slowly read us a sappy 7 page love letter he had written his wife before they got married.
The designer in my almost wept over those beautiful love letters! They were from the 50's, written in beautiful cursive with dark black ink on gorgeous customized paper with the most beautiful stamps I've ever seen. What a treasure! Not only for their beauty but for the sweet messages in them. I don't know if I've heard anything so romantic in my life! I haven't even thought to dream of corresponding to someone with that kind of passion. It made me realize that we have completely lost touch of romance in our society. Everything is so over-saturated with sex, sex, sex and more sexual undertones that we have completely lost the sensuality of commitment and true love. Even the BYU environment is so full of options everywhere you turn you hardly have a hope of getting stuck on one boy. The simplicity of a love letter is lost in the rush to meet more and more options.
I had mentioned to Strat that I sang and he demanded I sing before I leave. He even started singing some of his requests in his gravelly monotoned voice. I almost died laughing! I sang him a couple of songs and he literally started crying. I was so touched! He requested love songs. He was still thinking about his "Georgia peach."
It was ridiculously hard to get away. Every time we said we had to go, he would launch into another story to stop us from leaving. I could tell Steve was dying. It was frustrating sometimes, but I love Strat and I can sense how much he enjoyed having us there.
We finally left mid-story after saying we had to leave about 9 times and spending about 3.5 hours listening to stories.
I absolutely loved our visit with Strat, but I was worried Steve was really freaked out after the marriage comment from Strat and/or anxious to leave after listening for that long.
I figure whatever happens I'm really happy I made friends with Strat and I'm excited to visit him in the future (he already invited us to a Les Mis watching party he is planning) and what happened with Steve made for a really good story.
But when I text Steve: "Thanks for coming with me! You are awesome!"
He text back: "Of course! I figured if we were going to get married next week, we ought to visit him together ;)"
So he did take our potential marriage in stride. What a relief! I don't know what's going to happen, but I do know it was an awesome weekend with Me, Steve and Strat Wendleboe.

Me, Steve, and Strat Wendelboe

So I've been craving old person interaction. I can only take interacting with college aged students for so long before I start running off to nursing homes. It's true. So imagine my delight when I grabbed dinner at The Cougareat before my late night class and saw a 90 year old man with an oxygen tank sitting alone at a table.

I introduced myself and asked if I could sit down. He said "Of course! I love having company!" His name is Strat Wendelboe (not changed). Although he couldn't always hear me and I had to repeat myself several times, we had a delightful conversation. He told me his wife recently had cancer and died. He lives in his house by himself and is bored and lonely. I said I wanted to visit him and he was so excited! He drew me a detailed map of his house on my napkin.

I said "Would you like my number Strat?"
He said "Yes of course! Here write it on this newspaper!"
As I wrote my number on the newspaper, I saw another entry on the newspaper. It said:
"Hey Strat! It was so nice to meet you! -Steve" with Steve's number and address.

"Woah! What kind of man takes the time to enjoy the company of a sweet old man," I thought to myself! I instinctively jotted down Steve's name and number on my napkin before I wished Strat goodbye (He said: "I can't wait for your call! I'll tidy up the house before you come visit me!") and left.

Of course the natural thing to do would be to call this Steve and visit our common friend Strat with him. When I told Erin and Elisa this story, they brought up the point that someone that nice has to be married. So we began our facebook stalkage.

According to facebook, not only is this guy clearly unmarried and single, he is also clearly, well...PERFECT (As far as facebook can tell anyways). He has a picture of him holding a baby as his profile picture. He (like me) was an EFY (Especially For Youth) counselor. His favorite music is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, EFY Music, and classical instrumentation. His favorite book is the Book of Mormon. His favorite movies are "The Testaments" "Toy Story" and "The Gordan B Hinckley Movie." He served a mission in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. His relationship status is SINGLE. "His" website is mormon.org . AND he likes talking to sweet little old men for fun.

Is Steve too good to be true or does God like to reward you for looking out for his children with the number of a hot guy? All I know is, I'm calling Steve tomorrow FOR SURE!

First Date

So, Katelyn and I went on our "swap date" and it was a blast. I went with this boy whom we shall call Ryan and Katelyn went with Jake. We made pizzas together, then went to an arcade where we had a little friendly competition: Ryan and me against Jake and Katelyn. The competition was to see which couple could win the most tickets and whoever did received the other couples tickets as well to cash them in for a GRAND prize. Ryan and I were the winners!! We couldn't even believe our luck, especially considering I have none! After we collected our prizes which included dinosaurs and lots of sugar, we all played Laser Tag against 2 other couples. They beat us pretty bad. Well, they say "you win some and you lose some." Anyway, I know I had a great time. [Because we were pretty much with our date the entire evening, I can only say what Ryan and I talked about]. Ryan and I talked about our interests and we both LOVE the Disney movie Tangled; we both decided it is the best one so far. Overall, I had a great time talking with and getting to know Ryan. He is definitely a nice guy [and he's not too bad-looking, if I do say so myself ;) ] and I would definitely like to go on another date with him! We shall see, eh??

The Blind Date

Believe it or not, I had never been on a blind date. I guess I just don't seem like the type that people constantly want to set up with guys. But I've always wanted to go on a blind date, just to have the experience.
Last week my cousin Mark told me he wanted to set me up with his roommate. He asked me what kind of guy I liked, and I told him a guy who loved the gospel and honored his priesthood. Well, my cousin just laughed.
"Yeah, that's a give-in," he said. "I meant what do you want him to look like!" He then preceeded to laugh hysterically.
I didn't think it was that funny.
"Don't worry, Erin," said Mark. "I know you don't like gamers, and this guy isn't a gamer!"
Oh, so that's my only requirement.
But anyway, I wasn't really counting on this date going through...but two days after talking to my cousin, I got a call from Mr. Blind Date himself.
Our phone conversation was extremely awkward. What do you say to someone you've never SEEN? I got the impression that he was kind of a weird guy, but I tried not to have the wrong impression before I even met him. I mean, maybe I was the weird one.
"Mark told me you're really down to earth, and that you don't like gamers," he said.
Thanks, Mark. Thanks.
So the Blind Date, who I'll call Marshall, shows up tonight. I could tell that he wasn't really my type, but I decided to give it a try anyway.
First we went to the Malt Shop for hamburgers and shakes. I thought it was a bit weird that when he shut the car door for me, he asked me if I was clear before he shut it. Then he told me that a friend of his came back from a date with a bruised leg because her date slammed the door on her leg.
Ouch.
So the dinner at the Malt Shop went pretty well. At least we kept the conversation going for the most part. Then he asked me if I wanted to do something else. What could it hurt, right?
Next we went to a nickle arcade. We went around playing all the machines and winning all kinds of tickets. It was actually pretty fun. I felt like a kid again.
The best part of the date, I think, was launching my prize parachute man off the apartment balcony. He got stuck in a tree and we had to rescue him with a broom.
So now I can say I've been on a blind date. I'm not sure that it's the best way to find the right guy, especially when your cousin thinks your only requirement for a guy is that he's not a gamer...but at least I had a good time.
Mission accomplished.

I Date a Manipulative Weirdo Who Doesn't Want to Marry Me

So I haven't been posting for a long time because of a boy. Let's call him Ben. So I didn't even mention Ben in this blog, but he is a friend from freshman year who started asking me on dates. We were going on more and more dates while I was still going on a bunch of other dates. Things were going well and I figured we would start dating but I liked another guy (Michael) more the whole time. But Michael wasn't doing much so I was okay with seeing where things went with Ben.
We had been on like 4 dates and we had like 3 more lined up, we had told each other we liked each other (instigated by him) and then all the sudden Ben stops contacting me. I was okay with it because I figured he needed his space. We had plans for the weekend so we talked on the phone and he was acting super odd. So odd I asked if he wanted to come talk for a minute since he was on campus anyways.
Honestly, all I wanted to do was apologize if I had done something to hurt his feelings. I thought he might have been mad because I went on a second date with another guy that night or something. But HE thought I wanted to confess my undying love for him I guess because the first thing he did was force a DTR (Define the Relationship) on me as if it was my idea. I wasn't going to bring it up but I figured if he wanted one I guess it would be fine.
What ensued was hands down THE STRANGEST conversation I've ever had.
First he pressed me to tell him that I did want to date him and then he said he was changing his mind every day about what he wanted and that I had all the qualities he wanted in a (gulp) wife. He kept talking in terms of MARRIAGE not in terms of DATING. I wasn't seeing much past next week and he was thinking like ETERNITY. And in his "eternal thoughts" he had decided that he wanted to marry someone exactly like him. He said he would know who he wanted to marry within a couple days of knowing them and we'd known each other for too long. He also said he didn't think it was good to consult God about this because he would just let us make a decision and then approve or disapprove. I just can't agree with that...
I couldn't believe how much thought he had put into MARRYING me! I thought you were supposed to date someone before you consider marrying them...but when I said "Wait, what you are thinking about MARRIAGE?" he said "What do you THINK is on my mind Kylie, I just got back from my mission." I had no idea you should be able to know who your eternal companion is within a couple days of meeting them.
He said he loved being with me and spending time with me so in that way he LIKES me but he doesn't want to date me. And he never liked me even though he asked me on like seven dates and TOLD me he likes me. What the what?!
He said it was beneficial to him to spend time with me because I helped him learn how to socialize and date (he JUST got off his mission). I said "So basically, you were using me." He said "...Yeah I guess." Yikes...
And then he begged me to be his best friend. I said definitely not. He said "Why not Kylie?!" I said "Because I actually have a soul." He wanted to emotionally confide everything in each other, spend lots of time together, and do everything people do when they are DATING but he didn't want to date me. I can't handle that.
He also kept pressing me to tell him why I like him.
I feel very manipulated. I forgot why I never liked him at all freshman year and I remembered after that how he got girls to like him and then made it seem like they just were in love with him and he didn't like them back. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed he had changed but he definitely hasn't. Poor boy's got a lot to learn. The poor girls he meets have a lot to put up with.
I feel like I just liked him in response to the way he acted towards me and since apparently that was never there my like for him just completely dissipated.
So I was over it and chalked it up to immaturity until I saw Ben had just posted on his friends wall, "there was a girl who was way too interested in me." Maybe I'm wrong but I figured when a guy asked you on like 7 dates, TELLS you he likes you and is ridiculously flirtatious it means he is the one interested in me and it's okay to develop interest in response. But I guess all that means is he doesn't like you at all.
FORTUNATELY I liked Michael way more the whole time I was "dating" Ben. Now I like him 100 times more! (Thank you Ben for making me appreciate sensitive guys!). AND me and Michael went on another sweet date tonight!!! He is so awesome. I guess slow and steady really does win the race!

Latin Lovin'

So this weekend I went Latin dancing, and got the most attention from boys I've had in a while. One guy even asked me to dance 3 times and asked me for my number. I was a bit taken-aback because he was almost TOO interested in me. But anyway, I've now apparently found the hotspot for boys. Maybe none of these boys are looking for more of a commitment beyond a few dances...but hey! It's fun for a night!

Thank You, Boys...Or Not

So I was editing articles for the student journal I'm on, and one of those articles was about dating and commitment...or the lack thereof. The article said that in one study, only 50% of college females reported having six or more dates their entire college career. Yikes!
Although this may be a little bit different at BYU, since we are encouraged/forced/pressured to date, dating is still pretty low. This is due to a variety of reasons:
1. Fear of commitment!!!
2. Hanging out (so much easier than dating)
3. Guys can be dumb

There you have it. The reasons why we aren't dating. But I think I've been on more than 6 dates during my college career, so I should feel better about myself, right? Right?