The Courting Candle.

My mom has had this little framed story up in our house for .... my whole life, and I'm sure even before that. But I always thought it was kind of cute. Next to this framed story, there is a candle stick holder with this wooden block thing that can be moved up or down. The story goes as followed....

"A beautiful teenage girl, the daughter of the village blacksmith, was held in breathless adoration by most of the young men in the village. In an effort to regulate the time each of these young men spent courting his daughter, the blacksmith fashioned the "Courting Candle" When a young man came to call on his daughter, he adjusted the candle upward to allow more or less courting time, a judgement he made carefully after meeting each young man. When the candle burned down the little iron eye, that courting session ended. What a clever man! "

Now this fantastic little tale, does have a point. Promise. Last night as my dad and I were driving home from a nice little daddy-daughter+Christian date at Olive Garden.. we somehow ended up stumbling upon the topic of dating, "Courting", gentlemen...etc. I told him how screwed up todays "dating scene" has become. It seems as if nobody calls to ask a girl out on an official date anymore. It is all just "hanging out" and "hooking up" It's really disheartening! And if you are so lucky as to be asked out by a lad who wants to take you on an actual "Date" (how old fashioned of he) he calls the day-of expecting you to drop all of your plans... or all of your non-plans.. that you pretend to have and go out with him! What happpend to the days when a guy would call a week in advance, ask you out for friday night and let the anticipation build! (information I gathered from Dad seeing as that is how things were done in his day) Anyways, the point is. Girls should not put up with this! Girls should be "courted" just like in the olden days!

Ahh Gentleman... they seem to be far and few inbetween these days. I was telling dad about a date I went out on once with a boy I shall not name. Again, it was one of those confusing, are we meeting there? Are you picking me up? Is this a Date? Or are we just hanging out? Who will be paying shall we decide to do anything requiring funds type of deal. Confusing all around. We opted for some DQ icecream... not knowing what was expected of me, I offered to pay for my 3 dollar ice cream. "Okay" is what he said. Whattttt? No, no sir this is not acceptable. Normally I am fine with "going dutch" but when you call me up, wanting to do something, you besst be paying for that 3 dollar ice cream cone. We didn't have a second "date".

Atlas, I dated Cameron Dale Ricker. He must have been raised right because not once did I...

• Pay for anything! This was often quite annoying, sometimes I felt bad for him always paying for stuff.. but he would NEVER let me. So I had to be sneaky.. I got pretty good too!
• Walk on the side closest to the street: I will never forget being in Vegas with Cam, I happend to be walking on the side near the street/creepy people that hand out mini porn cards. Immediately Cam protectively switched me sides, didn't say a word, and just kept walking. I didn't say anything, but I wonder if he knows just how much that incident has stuck with me.
• Be "dropped off":  Unfortunately, some of my friends have told me some dates just drop them off... you got it, pull up to the front of the house, quick kiss and let them make their own way to the front door. Seriously? Not acceptable. Although, admittedly... there have been some dates where I have silently begged and pleaded for the "drop off"
• Open my own car/building door: He was always there to open the car door. Whether we were going out on a date, or just running to the store. Didn't matter. The door was opened. This kid is seriously a keeper!
• Order on a date: I will admit.. Cam did know that I loved this. And he may have caught on by my not-so-subtle hints at the beginning... but eventually, it was second nature. He always asked what I wanted, and then informed the waitress/waiter. Not a word was uttered from my lips. At some of our favorite places, he eventually didn't even need to ask...weird.
• Have to make awkward conversation because the boyfriend refuses to speak to strangers: If you know Cam, you know he is a pretty sociable guy. I can't tell you how nice it was never having to be the one to do the small talk, I hate small talk. He took care of that with ease. He could seriously make conversation with a park bench.  I just got to stand/sit there and throw my oh so intelligent/witty two-cents in at the appropriate moment ;]

The point of this post? I'm so sick of the "hanging out" and "hooking up" good grief  boys just use your words, call the girl, and ask her out on a good ol' fashioned date! .... at least three days in advance! :]