Please forgive me if there are spelling or grammatical errors, I am typing on my phone.

My family moved to Utah in December of my sophomore year so I started at my new high school in January. I had been there for maybe two weeks when I was called to the office during health class.

When I showed up at the front office there was a wooden snowman waiting for me with a card asking me to the sweetheart’s dance (which I never knew was a thing. Why are there so many school dances in Utah?) taking place around Valentine’s Day. Hidden on the snowman was the girl’s name which I didn’t recognize since I still didn’t know hardly anyone besides a handful of kids from my ward.

I asked one of the kids from my ward who this girl was and he just chuckled. Turns out the girl was in my same health class. She was the definition of a “sweet spirit”.

When I got home from school I talked to my parents and asked if I could decline the invitation to which my parents said no. They thought it was sweet and that one night would not kill me, so reluctantly I told her I would go to the dance with her.

Come the day of the dance she and the other couple pick me up at like 7 am for the day’s activities. The girl’s friend was even more awkward than my date.

Activity #1 was a scavenger hunt of random items at the local Walmart which included articles of clothing and a carton of eggs. At the end of the scavenger hunt the friend told us just to leave the cart full of items in the customer service area and the Walmart employees would put everything back. I was shocked since we did have raw food items that needed to be refrigerated. I can’t recall whether I still put the food back or just left with the group.

Activity #2 was feeding the ducks at a pond. Nothing really eventful or memorable at that I can remember all these years later. I’m pretty sure that the loaf of bread that we used was still frozen so we struggled break off pieces.

Activity #3 was playing different games in the cultural hall at one of the church buildings back in our town that felt like 3-4 hours. This part was not too bad since there was probably 15-20 couples there and I didn’t have to interact solely with my group.

Activity # 4 Dinner at the church. All the other couples or groups either went out to eat somewhere or went home until the start of the dance. We at dinner there with the other couple and the other girl’s parents. The parents were very nice but also acknowledged that their daughter was socially awkward.

After dinner they finally dropped me off back at my house to get ready for the dance. I showered and got dressed and they picked me back up after 45 minutes from the time they dropped me off.

We showed up at the dance right when it started (I think around 7 or 8). We took photos and then stayed on the dance floor for the entire dance. It would have been awkward to be at a casual dance by myself at this time since I still didn’t know anyone at school. Dancing with the same girl for the entire 3 hours was worse. I tried to be a good sport even though it seems like I am ranting about now 20 years later.

The dance finally ends at 11 pm and they dropped me off at home at some point. That was the longest date of my life.

My parents were right, the date did not kill me.

It wasn’t long after that the Church made a statement discouraging all-day activities and elaborate dates for dances.