The very first date

Take a second to envisage a shy, young boy who needs to ask a girl to go to a Valentine’s Ball with him. It could go one of two ways: wrong or terribly wrong.

I’ll leave the answer up to you.

I am sure a lot of you will relate to not wanting to tell your brother or sister, and definitely not your parents about your first date. They just won’t understand what you’d been through and apparently they always know what you could’ve done better.

So here it goes:

In the midst of summer 2015, with temperatures of up to 37 degrees Celsius the date was scheduled for 15:00. The only way of actually getting to your date without anyone knowing?

A bicycle ride.

Please bare in mind that this date is about 7km from where you stay and the elevation is like having to climb Mount Everest. Just with the heat of the desert.

I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

Well, for starters, you are going to be sweaty, not just because you are nervous but also because you barely survived the immense heat that hit your face every time you peddled a peddle further. The effect of this? An odour even Shrek would be afraid of.

Then, well, you could’ve guessed it. It’s quite simply very easy to fall off your bicycle. But would that happen to an experienced rider like myself?

Bruised, battered and sweaty I finally arrived at the coffee shop 10 minutes ahead of time. Plenty of time to gather my bearings after all the trauma I’ve been through.

That would’ve been nice, but true as Bob and just my luck. There she was. Already seated in her beautiful summer dress, just staring at what looked like a catastrophe.

We greeted one another (the first time in like 3 years), and the first and only words that I could manage to mutter out of my mouth were: “Would you go to the Valentine’s Ball with me?”

The only thought going through my mind was, who could possibly say yes. Fortunately she found all the events leading up to the date so comical, that she couldn’t say no.

Before I forget to mention, the Valentines Ball ended up being one for the books. It was a night filled with fun and lots of laughing.