Mostly for Ashley

My Grandma is a great Family Historian. She, along with doing literal Geneology work, does a great job involving the family in historical pursuits. The most recent idea is to write a "Memory Book" in which each month all family members are given a topic and can send in their entry. This is the first month, and hopefully we will continue for some years. What a treasure this will be--not to mention it helps me keep my own history. This month's topic was "First Date". Any first date. Well I decided to write my entry about my VERY first Official date. I think Ashley will find this most funny, considering she was there and we were really really silly 16 year olds (and 14, 15, 17, 18, 19...continued forever). It's fun to look back and remember what things were like "back then". (A whole 10 years ago now...)

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The great anticipation of turning 16. I know exactly what I was wearing. We even took a picture! Is that embarrassing? I think I was slightly embarrassed, but knew I'd be happy to have it in later years for the chances were this would not end in matrimony. (And if they did that would be completely AWESOME to have a picture of our first date!)

Well, living in Bellevue, Nebraska was sure fun. Before the announcement of our relocation to this state I don't think I knew a thing about it. Where was it? What kind of people lived there? What did it look like? So my very intelligent 8th grader self went to the encyclopedia and under "NEBRASKA" was a beautiful black and white picture of a cornfield. Talk about anti-climatic.

..Back to being in Nebraska. I found the people and the place to be quite inviting and lovely. Best friend=Ashley. Ashley turned 16 six months before me, so naturally I set her up on her very first date. I believe it was Kacy Beck. Well she returned the favor when my time was coming and found the 18 year old heart-throb from Iowa, Kevin Hanks. More like Kevin Hunk. (Just kidding, that was just really clever and I had to say it.) But Kevin was the son of our 4th year Young Women's camp leader, Sister Hanks. Kevin was a runner. A tall and very skinny runner. All I knew was he was 18 and going on a mission soon and that made me really cool for being his date. I honestly don't remember details, but Kevin was looking mighty fine in my teenage eyes so this was a complete suprise when Ashley got a sister the hook up for her first date! Ashley joined us with her own date as to support the BFF. I was unimpressed with her date...mine was so much nicer (wasn't this Todd something?).

The fellows picked us up at my house on Lynnwood Dr and we drove to Council Bluffs, Iowa (be ye not startled, it was 15 minutes away. We were no rebels). I do not recall what we did on the date...bowling? All I remember was I was wearing a blue long sleeved sweater with a red stripe across the chest from a cool store (I thought so, anyway), Kevin driving us through the city, and he introduced the belief that there were sensors on the street at a stop light. If you rolled forward while the light was red, the sensors would detect a car and trigger the switch of lights. Ashley and I often wondered about this, and experimented often. In ponderous times at stop lights, I think of the supposed sensors and if they really exist to this day.

So thank you, Kevin Hanks for the continued wonder of the secrets of stoplights. You were a good date back in 2001. May God bless you.