If you’ve read this blog for more than five minutes…
….you’ve heard the all the stories before.
And the exciting, scintillating tale about the day I realized I was in love with a spreadsheet.
There are a zillion chapters in our story full of life and laughter and love and challenges and a few obstacles along the way.
But there’s one story that I’ve never told.
It’s actually the prologue to all the tales I’ve already told–and just between us? You might be surprised.
Because our story?
It came SO close to never being written.
In our high school, there was one event each year that every girl waited for with excitement and anticipation.
The annual Sadie Hawkins dance.
Sigh.
It was amazing.
I’m not really sure who Sadie was and if Hawkins was her married name, but once upon a time apparently she was bold and courageous enough to work up the nerve to ask a boy out.
And that’s what started the tradition.
Every year in October, thanks to Sadie, girls everywhere would ask boys to the Sadie Hawkins dance. It was liberating and exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time.
Me and myself and I had our eye on a boy.
We thought he was the cutest boy in all the land.
He had dark curly hair and eyes that twinkled and the cutest voice and a dimple on one side of his face when he smiled.
Maybe it was that he was in a band.
Maybe it was because he walked around with drumsticks in his back pocket.
Maybe it was because he knew all the answers in geometry class.
But there was an air of mystery that surrounded him as he sauntered down the high school hallways.
So I told my friend how cute I thought he was and asked her if she thought he liked anyone and had she seen his dimple and did his eyes actually twinkle as much as I thought they did?
And what did she think about me asking him to the dance?
And she told me she thought I was brilliant.
Which of course, I was.
Later that week at a basketball game in the high school gym, I saw my opportunity.
There he was.
All alone except for the drumsticks in his back pocket.
I gathered up every ounce of my courage and approached him and asked him in a voice that was supposed to be confident and enticing (except it came out squeaky and shaking)….
….if he wanted to go to the Sadie Hawkins dance with me.
And he smiled at me.
And his eyes twinkled.
And he took a breath and in his super cute voice he said, “No.”
Wait. WHAT?
NO?
What was he thinking as he was making literally the biggest mistake of his life?
I couldn’t believe it.
I was mortified.
The cutest boy in the entire world had turned me down flat? My face turned red and I mumbled something and stumbled away down the bleacher steps.
Years later I asked him why he said no. He told me some story about how he didn’t know what to say and he didn’t really dance and he didn’t even go to dances.
But truth?
Just between us? He is sweet and shy and kind and wonderful and I think in that moment?
I was just too much. Too extra. Too over-the-top. Too overwhelming.
In retrospect when I analyze the situation, I’m sure I was weirdly trying to bat my eyelashes and smile like a supermodel and give him all the hints and all the sideways glances and letting him know without a doubt in the first 10 seconds that I liked him. That I really, really, really liked him.
He just wasn’t ready in that moment….
….for the amazingness (and super extraness) that is me.
I never really spoke to him again in high school.
When I saw him in the halls I always acted like I had WAY bigger things to do than ask him to a dance ever again.
We graduated and left high school and went on to college and a new life.
And the story should have ended there.
Except.
Except two years later I got a call on a phone with a cord in the upstairs landing of the house we live in now.
I couldn’t believe it. A pair of twinkling eyes on the other end asked me if I wanted to go out.
What?
What should I say?
Maybe it was the fact that it was Christmastime.
Maybe it was how sweet his voice sounded.
Maybe I wanted to see if he was still as cute as he was in high school.
But me, myself and I?
We didn’t say no. We said yes.
And the rest (as they say in all really good stories)…
…is history. 🙂
PS One final note in this story’s chapter. Last week we went back to the same highschool in the same gym for an event for my niece. The bleachers looked the same. The gym was painted the same colors. The walls looked the same.
Nothing much had changed.
Except for one thing.
This time? He went home with the girl. 🙂
Meant to be!!!❤️
Love your story! So, why did he say “no” back in high school?
Kerri, I have a very similar story! It makes me aware that there is probably a "plan" out there for real! Sadie Hawkins!? I went to school in the south and remember it SO WELL! I don't think folks in the Northeast have any idea! At least I have not met any! I wonder IF it is still A THING as girls of today are so much bolder and think nothing of doing the asking! It's great to have a "story", right? You know, I am sure that thoughts of "OUR STORY" has actually kept us together when it COULD have sadly gone the other way.......
Love your stories!
Love your story with Twinkle Eyes! We had Sadie Hawkins dance too and we all wore bib overalls and red bandanas and the cafeteria where the dance was held was decorated with hay bales. Sadie must have been a good ole country gal!!:)
Why did he say no?
I was wondering the same thing.
Years later I asked him why he said no. He told me some story about how he didn’t know what to say and he didn’t really dance and he didn’t even go to dances. But truth? Just between us? He is sweet and shy and kind and wonderful and I think in that moment? I was just too much. Too extra. Too over-the-top. Too overwhelming. In retrospect when I analyze the situation, I’m sure I was weirdly trying to bat my eyelashes and smile like a supermodel and give him all the hints and all the sideways glances and letting him know without a doubt in the first 10 seconds that I liked him. That I really, really, really liked him. He just wasn’t ready in that moment….for the amazingness (and super extraness) that is me. :)
Love your sweet story!! 💖
I'm so glad it is now written, and it's one for the history books!! xoxo
Love your story and the happy ending---yet what was on his mind to say no???
I’m going to go back and add to the story! I shouldn’t have skipped over that part. 🤣 Now when I ask him he told me that he didn’t dance. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I think he was just shy and a girl asking him to a dance was overwhelming I am (and forever have been) a LOT. So I think he didn’t know what to say!
Hilarious. My heart is breaking for that poor teenage girl who was turned down, though. You two are adorable!
So funny! Sometimes (as my mom used to say) these boys just aren't ready for a girl like you yet! My husband declined my invitation to my 16th birthday party and I was serving White Rock soda and Ruffles potato chips, I mean come on! Years later, he also turned down another invitation to the prom and, consequently, missed out on a limo ride with Mariah Carey...but that's another tale altogether. Now, after 29 years of marriage, both of those stories have become a running joke. I guess on the road to true love, some people have to catch up! ;)
Sadie Hawkins was a character in Lil' Abner comics. She was always chasing the guys,.
Kari Ann I love that happily ever after!!! Thank you for sharing it! High School can be exciting and painful all at the same time . I’m amazed you knew he was the one for you and you were right!!!! What a beautiful life you have !!!
Such a great story!! And so glad for the eventual happy ending!!!
Aw life provides so many wonderful stories. When I met my 6'4, blue eyed man with blond hair and very handsome I liked him. But I must admit his brand new 1964 Pontiac with the biggest engine also took my breath away!! He won me over and we have been married 60 years.
Love this! We too had Sadie Hawkins Day. Everyone dressed up in their best idea of farmer clothes and all the music was square dance and country!! So long ago....
Please don’t leave us hanging, why did he say no to the dance??
I heard the doorbell and noone used it but my family, so I go answer it in my robe and my hair up in a towel, and low and behold, there stood my old boyfriend!!! He called the next day and was about to say goodbye when I said weren't you gonna come over(which he said he would since I had a date the night before and he had to scadaddle!!!) The rest is history as we have been married a wonderful 46 1/2 years and are about to be great grandparents!!!
In our neck of the woods, Sadie Hawkins Day is February 29th. The day when a girl may ask a guy out. Always and only February 29th. But then, I’m old. It’s probably different now.
KariAnne, thanks for sharing another one of your sweet stories with us! You two were meant to be together! May God continue to bless you two with lots of happiness!
Best love story EVER❤️❤️❤️
The sweetest love story! Here’s to you both!!! I once just delivered a message to a man named Paul…..and now we will soon celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary! Here’s to BOLD women. Your man never forgot your awesomeness!
I love this story so much. You know when I met my John , I said he's going to be mine. Here we are 35 years later
WOW! Guess he (brilliantly) rethought THAT out now, didn't he???? I sure love a sweet sappy ending to a love story. Whew. Boys are so silly sometimes. But all that thinking about you did him in, heh heh. You guys are the sweetest family. ♥♥ Glad he found the courage.
Oh, KariAnne! Your love story is beautiful and reminded me of all the reasons why I fell in love with my husband. Thank you! Day to day it's very easy to not remember The Beginning because we're so focused on The What's Next. I appreciate you and the reminder that to move forward we should take a couple of moments to look back.
I'm sitting here with a grin on my face. I love your love story. I feel like I'm listening to a great memory of a girlfriend. Thanks for the morning bit of joy you deliver almost daily. Karen B.
I LOVE THIS STORY! It has the very best kind of ending : ) Your "stories" are all wonderful, special life moments that we can all relate to in some way or another, you are a gifted storyteller, a bit of an Erma Bombeck. Thank you so much for sharing, Julie
Love this story so much! My husband of 30 years next week, went to high school together. I got the nerve to ask him to dance at the Valentines dance and he said yes. We dated for a while and I stupidly broke things off. We went our separate ways for 5 years. Then we ran into each other when we were home for the weened from college and started dating again. Again, it was me, hi, I was the problem it was me lol. He was so intentional, so sure of himself, and I wasn’t ready for the serious, leading to marriage relationship he was. Fast forward a year and the next time I saw him… everything changed. We dated for 3 months, he asked and I said yes. 7 months later we were married. 30 years, 3 girls, 3 sons-in-law, and two grand babies later, I am so glad he loved me so much to wait for me to catch up. Has it been smooth sailing all the time, not even close, but I cannot imagine like without him and love him more today than yesterday.