Remarkable dates: background

Just for fun, since it is “the season”, I thought I’d share the two stories I mentioned previously. I don’t know about it being cathartic for me [smile], but the Date From Hell sure is fun to tell! [and, by way of preamble, I am referring to the particular evening’s events as being from hell, not the woman on the date. Courtney, though distant, is still dear, as are all of my friends.]

In college, our program of study was limited in size. A maximum of 40 students would be admitted to the program each year. Of these 40 people, we were divided into two class-time blocks. These 20 people then became as close as family. In the senior year of the program, we were assigned “studio space” on two floors in the back wing of a campus building. This became a comune – we ate, drank, slept and breathed our program, and also each other.

As you might imagine, we all tried dating all of the members of the opposite sex in our group at some time during our 3+ years together. Dating was never allowed to get in the way of our family feelings, or our studies. If there was a bitter breakup, the bitterness only lasted a few weeks. Proximity and professional demands brought an enevitable return of civility and ultimately family caring. [that may be a little generous…I do remember a couple of spats that lingered.]

It was through such a group in my senior year that Courtney came to be my crush. Courtney was attractive because of her beauty, intelligence, and also because she was a Christian. If she had flaws, they were that her family was extremely wealthy causing her to be somewhat sheltered and naive. This is probably a factor in her second fault – she did not have streetwise, and sometimes lacked common sense. The fact that she was blonde did nothing but enforce a stereotype. But, if these were in fact flaws, I chose not to see them, or they made her more dear to me in any case.

She was perceived as difficult with men (at least, the men in our group) and I was the only person who had a persistant interest in her beyond friendship. [as a note to myself for later writing, I credit Courtney with teaching me that while a “friendship” must be two sided, love does not need to be. Love can be, maybe must be, one-way. For those who would challenge that, I cite Christ’s love, that He would die for you ere He knew you, and that He died for those who even at that moment hated him.]