By Tara Pringle Jefferson
This weekend, in honor of Sweetest Day (yes, Lamar, I’m fully aware that is a country, Midwestern holiday and no one else outside of my neck of the woods – or at least the Great Lakes – even knows what it is…lol), my husband and I went to a local restaurant to celebrate.
After we took our seats in the waiting area, a hoard of high school kids, dressed up in their homecoming outfits, poured in. The girls shivered in their pretty-but-too-skimpy-for-mid-October dresses, while the guys all sported facial expressions that were a mix of pure nervousness and forced bravado. With no parents or chaperones in sight, they looked like they were too pumped to be enjoying their night of double-, triple-dating.
With nothing else to do as we waited for a table, I watched as I saw one guy hesitate and contemplate sliding his arm around his date’s shoulder, but every time she looked toward him, he chickened out. I saw another guy offer up his tuxedo jacket to his date with the strapless dress and she gave him a smile that probably made his whole night. The homecoming queen came with them – I knew she was the homecoming queen because, besides the crown on her head, her date kept shouting out, “Hey, the homecoming queen is in the house! We need your best table! Doesn’t she look beautiful tonight?”
As I looked at these kids and their uncertainty and had to smile. I remember having those butterflies when I first started dating – wondering, “What should I order? I can’t order chicken wings – too messy. What about Alfredo? Nah, I’ll have the itis and my breath will stink…”
Now, I’m comfortable. If I want to kiss my husband at the end of the date, I kiss him. If I want to hold his hand, I reach out and grab it. If I want us to go out to dinner, I toss on my coat and tell him to hop in the car.
I’m glad we’re past that awkward “getting to know you” stage, but as I looked at those high school kids with their pimples and dimples, it reminded me to never let go of those butterflies. To never take for granted that he is mine and I am his.
BMWK family, do you remember the awkward stage or are you still in it? What still gives you the butterflies?
Tara Pringle Jefferson is a freelance writer living in Ohio with her husband and two kids. She writes at https://theyoungmommylife.com, where she discusses the realities of being a 20something mom.