Well it’s been a whole 32 hours since the first blog entry
came into existence, and I am amazed at the viewership numbers. I credit this
largely to Tim; he’s been flawless in his volunteer hype man role. I was even
pleased to see some ladies signing on (s/o to fellow Iowan Lauren Cleope!) and
trust me ladies, this blog will be enjoyable for you, so keep reading.
So as mentioned last blog, Tim’s Relationships 101 blog got
me my first date in about 2 years, and that date occurred last night. My quest
for acceptance into Relationships 201 had me taking my beautiful date to the
Twinkie’s game vs. the Kansas City Royals. I had the tickets that I had gotten
off of Craigslist for a great price, and was praying like mad they were real.
The lady I bought them from seemed legit, but we aren’t in Iowa anymore so
can’t no one be trusted! With a 5:45pm scheduled date pickup time, I was set
and ready to go.
Now, before I go farther, please note the title of this
post. You are probably asking yourself, “Why is a post about a date titled ‘Life
Lessons from Coach Talley’?” Or, knowing Mrs. Talley, maybe you aren’t, but
that doesn’t matter. What matters is that Coach Talley has taught me numerous
life lessons during my years as an NWC Eagle, and two of them really came into
play during this date.
Life Lessons #1&2: “Pray without ceasing” and “Take joy
in adversity”
It all starts at 4:45pm. I’m at a grad party for a girl in
the youth group when my boy Jim says his wife has the car and asks if I could
drop him off at his house. He tells me he lives on the way to my date’s house,
so I say that’s fine and we head back to the Lodge so I can change into some
fresh clothes before we go. We leave slightly before my 5:20 previously planned
departure time and everything is lookin good. Then it hits…no, not the Hershey
squirts or anything; something far worse—Traffic. As an Iowan, I’m still
struggling to get used to the insane amount of time it takes to get places
during rush hour. I failed to remember this and plan accordingly, so here we
are cruisin hwy 36 at a speedy 30mph. We get about halfway there, and I realize
I’m genna be cutting it close to my promised ETA. I shoot her a text quick
saying I may be just a couple minutes late.
5 minutes later my ETA has come and gone, and I am just
dropping Jim off at his house, with still a 10 minute drive ahead of me. Now, a
general rule with first dates is that the guy needs to be on time or early,
while the girl really has no time constraints. So here I am flying up hwy 61,
doing a dicey 70-75mph in a 50 and weaving through traffic like a NASCAR driver
on meth. To say I was comin in hot would be an understatement. By this time it
is 5:55 and I’m thinking there’s no way she’s genna be ok with my tardiness. I
then take Coach’s advice: I start praying. I prayed for grace, no red lights,
and no cops. And ya know, sometimes God decides to let you have your way, and
this was one of those times. I got all 3! I went 6 for 6 on traffic lights, saw
no cops, and when I pulled into her driveway at an embarrassing 6:02 she was
all smiles and full of grace even before I gave her a play-by-play explanation
of why I was 17 minutes late.
After the potentially deadly start to the night, we get to
Target Field in great spirits and go to the gate. More prayers get shot up to
the Big Man for these tickets to be legit; after all being 0-2 with 2
strikeouts is no bueno. But we got through and I could now sit back and relax
with my beautiful date by my side. After an exciting 9th inning that
ended in the Twinkies coming up a bit short, we made our way to the car along
with the masses. Being roughly 100 lbs bigger than her (and being the man), I
was leading the charge through the herd of people, much like what may happen
this fall if I play o-line, and she was sticking close by with her hand around
my arm. About halfway out of the stadium, something totally unexpected and
unplanned happened. As we were walking, our hands hit. Now, normally it’s
whatever, but this time they hit in such a way that our fingers literally slid
together and interlocked. I swear it was accidental. There was a moment where
neither of us knew what the other was thinking, which actually come to think of
it happens a lot between guys and gals. After pulling away slightly and getting
a read on what she thought (after all it was a first date and I had no
intentions of hand holding) we ended up holding hands out to the parking ramp.
I was that much closer to getting into Relationships 201!
After getting lost in the parking ramp for a bit (remember,
I’m from a place where parking ramps are considered “big city livin”) and
taking a bit of a detour in our quest to find 35W North without hitting any
pedestrians, we arrived safely back in her driveway. The night ended with super
positive feedback and a really tight hug. Between my late arrival, not knowing
for sure if the tickets were legit, the freak hand holding incident, getting
lost in the parking ramp, and driving around Minneapolis for a bit trying to
avoid fatalities, I could have been wound up tighter than a homeschooler at a
high school dance. But thanks to Coach Talley’s 3 years of advice on prayer and
dealing with adversity I am now that much closer to Relationships 201!
