Our First Date

Being single with children and trying to date, presents some interesting obstacles- especially if you are living with your parents. David and I were both in this situation because we were both so lucky to have family to let us live with them and help take care of our kids while we were in school. Who knows how many hours of babysitting our parents racked up so that our over-all earning potential could increase. David had lived with his parents for 2+ years while he finished his Masters in Library Science. He had lived as a single parent for two years prior to that. I had lived with my parents ever since I had left my previous husband. I didn't fight for the house I previously shared with my ex because I knew I would stay in school and didn't need the responsibility of a house on top of all the other things I would have to take care of- including myself. Healing for myself and my children would take up any other free time- until I met David.

David and I decided from the beginning that our children didn't need to be brought into meeting people that we dated until we were farther into a relationship. This helps them not feel jerked around and fall in love with another adult only to have that relationship taken away if things don't work out. As a result, David and I dated for about a month before our kids met us.

After our first "meeting" at the pool, reality set in that both of us had our kids everyday and every other weekend since he had full custody, and I had two of mine living with me. They still needed us, so we decided to not go out together unless we didn't have our kids, or our parents could watch them.  Soooo, to make a long story short, we didn't get an official "date" until three weeks after we met. We still tried to go swimming at the water areobics class during the week while the kids were at school, but we were surrounded by people. I had classes to go to, and he worked two part-time jobs at the time. He worked at the Bountiful Public Library, and at a part-time government records position. He had graduated in January of 2010 with his Masters, but good positions in the library system are hard to come by- unless someone dies, or moves (which doesn't happen for librarians often).

This photo was taken on our first official date- while waiting for the dance to begin.

For our first real date, David picked me up at my parents house and we headed south to Salt Lake City. He knew of a cute authentic mexican resterant to take me to. The food was delicious, and the atmosphere was like stepping into a South American movie. He had served his two-year church mission in Puerto Rico, and loved the food. This was similar to the type of food he ate there. Afterwards we decided to head to the movie "Prince of Persia", which was playing at the time. It was a really good movie and had quite the european flair to it. Even though this was our first real date, we had already spent so much time talking, texting, and being at the pool together that we had moved beyond friendship quickly, and it felt so right!! So, on our first date, I enjoyed snuggling with my "boyfriend" and having conversations with him! After the movie, it was still quite early in the afternoon, so we walked around and visited a Barnes and Noble bookstore to browse. 

When evening came upon us, we headed down to South Jordan to Dance the night away at a local LDS mid-singles dance that happen's regularly. It's called Dee's Dance at the Noah's building in South Jordan. It was an okay dance place with a few interesting people, but the best part was being with David and getting to know him and his likes better. I found out that he could dance, and that he could sing- which he did quite often just for me. We had a ton of fun, and he dropped me off at my house, exhausted non-the-less.