Friday, February 19, 2010

Article #90 Dating at BYU

Dating at BYU in the 1960s was fun, and it was wonderful to have such a large selection of young LDS fellows to meet at dances and other church activities. We were all organized into student wards. I remember one Sunday having three different dates: one date to go to church with in the morning, a different fellow I invited for dinner with my roommates, and then another fellow for a fireside date that evening. This was tricky, arranging events so they didn’t meet each other.

BYU was like a daters dream come true, once you got into the swing of it. I was a junior in class standing, but nevertheless started dating steadily a young man that was a freshman majoring in music. We had lots of fun together, but after his first year of college, he was ready for his church mission. So, the time came to say farewell for two years or forever. We broke up because he didn’t want me to wait for him. It seemed that each young man I dated helped me understand more about life, and what I was not looking for in a companion.

As a senior at BYU, I met an older graduate student and we started dating. He was 29, a returned missionary and a perpetual student––it should have been a perfect match. Studying to teach Seminary, he couldn’t teach until he was married. He had logically gone about making his list of qualities he wanted in a potential mate. Dating about sixteen young BYU coeds, he checked them out against his list. Then eliminated them one by one, he narrowed his list down to one––me! But in all his mental calculations, he had forgotten the romantic side of a relationship.

Though we enjoyed dating, going to dances, parties and concerts, there were no sparks between us. He wanted to get engaged, but I felt no romantic love for him. We had never even kissed! He had prayed and was sure I was “the one,” but my prayers didn’t come up with the same answer. Still not sure how that happens. He also wanted a large family of ten children or more. He told me he knew this would be a “big challenge as you would need to be pregnant for the next twenty years.” He still isn’t married to this day. I guess he ended up being “the old maid.”

7 comments:

  1. Hey!! I am your first comment! I have just emerged from the Twilight Zone when I began to read each of your blogs and comment until I hit the one I had last commented on. I do not know what happened...I may have been abducted by aliens and I have just returned!! So, grab a cup of cocoa, 'cause I have commented back to the beginning of Feb!

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  2. Oh, you have me laughing now. I have, of course, seen this story acted out before, the intense young man with a cause and a need for a wife, but usually in stories of another era, like Jane Austin novels!
    I'm glad you escaped that fate!

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  3. Lin, I'm smiling.... I loved reading this story of your younger days. And it was quite the hoot to read about the fellow who didn't seem too disturbed to tell you that you could be pregnant for the next 20 years if you married him. Guess no one else took him up on his offer either. Poor lad.

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  4. I so enjoy reading of your past "adventures" and schooling. I had to chuckle over the "being pregnant for the next 20 years"! I can see why he never married!

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  5. Some folks are single by choice, but I enjoy having a companion..I do love these history posts...Michelle

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  6. This is such a hilarious, wonderful post, Lin! I can see why you'd be popular. But 10 children. I'm glad you stepped carefully away from that one. Wow!

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