The Understory – Dates

Rob McRay brought us the understory of Tenx9 Nashville’s February theme “Dates”. 

Nashville, tonight we remembered some special dates in our lives.

We remembered green bears who showed us new dates to celebrate, and we experienced near tragedy and unrequited love from a Valentine’s kitten on a very special Spring holiday.

We remembered a great adventure that started with ice cream sundaes and ended with hives in the principal’s office in a moment of important self-discovery.

We remembered a dream house and wonderful vacations and constant chatter, followed by rebellion and pain…and a moment of terrible abandonment that led to court dates and years of silence—and profound transformation.

We remembered the 20^th birthday of a cute choir girl with purple chapstick, and sophomoric sweetness and always ascending, till we found ourselves experiencing sunrise in the park in a moment of being truly vulnerable—truly, totally vulnerable.

We remembered looking marvelous—or so we thought—for a first date with a self-absorbed surgeon who gave us the finger; and after an encounter full of internal conversation that was better than the actual conversation, we realized we looked better to start with.

We remembered a time of scripture-filled dating on one-way streets, watching Lawrence Welk, and bleeding fingers that scarred us both for life.

We remembered planting sweet peas on Valentine’s Day, March Madness, lawn mowing, blooming roses, book shows, swimming pools, baseball games, and kindergarten schedules, beautiful fall wedding days, Thanksgiving at the cabin, Advent tea with triffles, cold nights with the cats…and noticing that we are already home.

We remembered dating a drama queen in the age of dinosaurs at a double bill of awkwardly silent movies overwhelmed by a spontaneous, contagious concerto of laughter, in which we were each a unique instrument of joy.

We remembered computer dating that made us feel very desirable…until we exchanged compliments over a chicken dinner with a bad comb-over in plaid green pants, and decided that maybe honesty—maybe—is the best policy.