The Real Julie

 1.  Dating Julie and Marriage before kids

Prompt- Why did you ask out Julie?

Julie was just out of high school and full of energy when me met. She had a small build at 5’ 2” and 110 lbs, size 6 feet, hands also smaller than most, and a proportionally small build from shoulders to feet, but she was strong and nimble from years of cheerleading. Here eyes and hair were close to the same color, medium dark brown eyes, hair more dark. Her eyes were average size, but very expressive of her mood. When she greeted people they were open wide, not so wide to be forced or phony, but bright, smart, and wide enough to say, “I like you and am interested in knowing you, fellow human,” and she was like that with all her greetings. Her eyes could smirk and hint playfulness or suspicion with a little squint. Those eyes could be very watery and sad, and were more than she deserved later in life. Her smile was as natural as her eyes, with teeth slightly parted with anticipation and excitement for a greeting. Hair certainly changes with time, and back then her’s was classic 80’s hair, permed and long with feathered back curls. Her step was quick, especially at that time in her life, and she seemed to bounce a little when we she was happy and having a good time, like the night we met. I was instantly attracted at first seeing her, and yes it was superficial, but it was also an extension of who she was. And it was, “so far so good”, so I decided to ask her out and dig a little deeper.

That first impression was at a church parking lot Dance, out on the Ririe Highway north of Iona.  I was home for the summer working in residential landscaping, long hard days in the sun made me blonde, tan and ripped by July 3, 1987, the night we met.  The summer “chase girls” plan was to go to the LDS young single adult summer dances on Friday night, get a date for the next night. Julie had just graduated HS 6 weeks earlier and was working in a garden mart, and she was a sun lover and she had the kind of skin that tanned fast and dark.  She had spent her senior year as the Cheer Queen at Skyline HS, so she was extra exuberant above and beyond her natural positive persona. I didn’t know all of the details of why she was so attractive on the outside at that first meeting, but that exuberance in her open eyes, tan smiling face and cute, fit body struck like lightning as she bounced in front of me, and I instantly said, “Hey, do you want to dance?”

We danced few dances, and I learned her name and that she had just graduated HS.  I was 22, so she was 4 years younger. Acceptable. I was looking for her again as the dance wrapped up.  I wanted to ask her out for the next night, but had to ask another girl when I couldn’t find her.

As the summer when on, I looked for her at all the LDS young adult dances, and I found her a week or two later at a dance, but she was with a date.  So I had to wait.  By late July or Early Aug, I had found her again at a dance.  We danced and talked, and I was ready for a date.  A few days later I called her on the phone and she seemed happy to say yes to my invitation for a date.

I have to say here that Julie liked me instantly also.  She was following me with her eyes that first dance, and told me later that she was “so mad” that I was talking to that other girl who I asked out.  She also later told me that she was “so mad” that she was with another boy at that second dance as she apparently had her eye on me too then.

Prompt- What did you and Julie do on your first dates, and what did you learn about each other, and why did you keep dating?