Sunday, March 1, 2009

Worth a Try

I did my makeup today. I mean, I really slathered it on. The way I only do every other Sunday. Then I sprayed my hair. With hairspray. Do you know I used to have a phobia of the stuff? My sister had to hold me down the morning of my wedding to save me from myself, and any insubordinate strands of wayward hair. I ducked and dodged and sputtered (a lot like the way I always acted in the winding down moments of a date, or the "doorstep scene"), and despite my defiance, several sticky drops managed to hit their mark. Thank goodness. Though, by the reception they had long since evaporated (or whatever hairspray does), leaving my hair to fend for itself. It was a traumatic hair day.

Immersion therapy. It's how I got over it. I just dipped myself in a vat of the stuff every morning for a year. At least that's how it felt at first. But these days I use hair spray like oxygen. And mascara like, well, mascara. Which is huge for me. Cause I used to use it like Halloween makeup: once a year and kind of scary. I didn't even wear it to my wedding (I know, I'm a disgrace). I just couldn't make it look or feel right.

I still really can't, but I keep trying.

Which reminds me of the first time Ty held my hand. It was eleven years ago last night. It was our "defining" date/moment. It was the night (I would later find out) that Ty gave me an ultimatum in his own mind, leaving me ten minutes to show up before he ditched me forever and called one of his other girlfriends. It was within that ten minute time frame (while Ty sat, phone in hand, posed to dial "what's her name's" number, eyes on the clock) that I had my bravest moment and actually showed up on his doorstep. It was a close call. It was a sign.

We rode his motorcycle that night. We dined (a pertinent part of any evening with Ty, and perhaps why I adored him so completely). We also watched three movies: one at his apartment, one at mine, and one at the theater. Of course, movies back then were more a reason to socialize than they were about actually watching a movie, and I don't think we ever finished one. The ones at the theater were a little less social (silent, side-by-side, no roommates around to save you from uncomfortable situations), so of course that usually meant nerve-wracking for me. And then came Ty. A little ways into the movie he leaned over and asked (in his slight Southern drawl I might add), "Would you hold something for me?" to which I replied, "Sure," looking around expecting to see him hand me his wallet or jacket or something. Instead he just held out his hand. We laughed (and held hands), and I loved him for that. Every other boy-skin-meets-girl-skin event in my life had been so awkward and scary...and silent. Yuck.

From the moment we met (well, more like the moment we went on our first date - our first meet was not my proudest moment), Ty made me feel comfortable. Time spent with him was like a breath of fresh air, and I could never get enough.

I still really can't, but I keep trying.

8 comments:

Michelle said...

You have a really good memory. I don't remember the date let alone the event that cause my hubby and I to hold hands. I do remember our first kiss (but not the date) he asked me if he could kiss me and I wanted to say "It's about stinkin' time" but I didn't.

So how come he only gave you 10minutes to show up? Were you late? What is the story in that? I also want to know the story of how you met!

Amber said...

Can you please get sick more often? You explode back onto the blogging scene with this gem! Loved it and love you for the fact that you are beautiful enough to avoid all makeup on your wedding day and still pull it off. I think it helps to keep beautiful friends around (or relatively close, at least in the same state), because it makes me look cool (or something). Anyway, the first time Mark kissed me was the first time I had EVER gotten butterflies in my stomach from a kiss. I still remember how it made me feel. No other kiss before that is even slightly memorable. Oh how I loved that kiss. Sigh.

Emily said...

I remember that day. It was the end of you giving me a hard time about getting married & leaving you alone with the rest of our weird roommates. There was no more teasing after that night. Suddenly, marriage was not the end of the world like it was before. It took almost a year for Matthew to convince me of that, but I'm pretty sure your mind was changed from that point on. ;)

I love your Rick's posts. Rozel's right, you have a good memory.

Sharlee said...

Isn't it amazing that Heavenly Father saves someone "just right" for each of us? The stuff they say doesn't make us secretly roll our eyes, their touch doesn't make our stomachs gurgle, their very presence makes our hearts leap and makes our troubles disappear. I still feel that way about Kendal and thank goodness I didn't try to marry one of those boys that bugged me just cuz I knew they'd be rich and handsome forever. Like Amber, I never knew what a kiss was till Kendal gave'er a whirl. Mmm, mmmm.

Jason said...

I wore makeup today too!! I really have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to makeup! Most girls are shocked when they see my "makeup" bag and see how little makeup is in there! And the one thing of mascara that I own is one tube that my mission companion gave me when we were serving together 6 years ago!!:). I also used to be completely against hairspray! I use to watch Lisa cake it on her hair and I remember being disgusted! I didn't start wearing it until I chopped my hair off, that was after college, right before my mission! Now I love it and can't live without it. I was telling Jason that I needed to stock up so that I had enough in our emergency storage and he said that I would not be worried about my hair if we were in emergency circumstances... But I don't know? I think I would still be a little concerned:) Anyways. I love your post! I love hearing about you an Ty! Gotta love all those first time memories! Hope you're feeling better!

Marianne said...

Thanks for sharing that cute story! I love hearing everyone's "firsts." When Joel and were engaged (which was about a day after started dating) we wrote out in dialogue form our first hand holding experience. I still love reading it. Sometime I'll put it on my blog.

dianeb said...

I loved reading this - made me reminisce a bit about John & I - our first date, first kiss - wow how time has flown by!

Christy said...

Thanks for posting that! I wish I could pull off- no makeup! That would be pretty scary though so I won't try it. Yesterday, in fact, I realized I haven't been wearing as much lately with being sick the last few months so I decided to put a little more on. When my husband came home, he was like, wow! YOu look really pretty! At first I was happy he noticed that I tried to look better, but then a part of me was like, man I have to wear all this, just to be pretty!! haha, I know that's not what he meant but it feels that way sometimes!
I loved reading how you guys held hands! That's really cute! I don't remember the first time we held hands but our first kiss was a "sucker" kiss. heard of those?