Mystery Date

A couple of weeks ago I told y'all about how Lazy Dad asked me out on a Mystery Date.

You know, the one he invited me to through Google Calendar?

It's the totally hip and modern way to ask a person out, Google Calendar, didn't you know?

(I'm lying... it's the we're-married-and-we-have-our-Google-Calendars-synced-and-I'm-too-lazy-to-pick-up-the-phone-and-ask-you-out-like-when-we-were-boyfriend-and-girlfriend, type way. But I enjoyed it non-the-less. And to be fair, there was no Google Calendar when we were dating, so he couldn't use it back then.)

When the Google Calendar invite came to my email inbox telling me that Lazy Dad had invited me to an event called "Mystery Date" and wanted to know my RSVP, I hovered over the "yes" button for a second and then decided at the last minute to click on, "maybe" as my reply.

When Google Calendar told him my response was tentative, he emailed me back with, "Tentative?"

And I emailed him back with, "What? I might be busy."

I like messing with him.

Anyway, I decided I should probably see what this whole Mystery Date thing was about, so in the end I RSVP'd yes.  Besides, he already had a babysitter.

Mystery Date night rolls around, I'm all dolled up and the babysitter arrives.  Off we go... to I don't know!

His plan was to take me to Olive Garden for dinner, but when we get there it's a 45 minute wait.  So we head to Red Lobster.  Which lovingly tells us it's an hour wait.  So we drive to Carrabbas, it's a no-go.  Then we decide to just start calling places instead of driving to them.

Abuelo's.
Smokey Bones.
Outback.
Cracker Barrell.
Applebees... no wait! But Lazy Dad's not a fan.
Ruby Tuesday... 20 minute wait.  Let's do this.

So this Mystery Date is off to a rough start, but we head to Ruby Tuesday happy to get this date officially started.

We wait for about 30 minutes to be seated, and at this point I'm thinking, are we going to be late to where we are going next?  Cause where I SUSPECT he's taking me starts at 7:00pm and it's already 6:30 at this point.

We order dinner.
We wait.
And wait.
The waitress informs us they're out of the ribs Lazy Dad ordered.
He places another order.
We wait.
And wait.

7pm is long gone. We must not be going where I was HOPING he was taking me.

His food arrives.
Mine doesn't.
We wait.
The ribs come out.
You know, the ones they didn't have?
Waitress apologizes.
We wait.
While Lazy Dad eats two dinners.
My food arrives.
We eat.

At this point it's about 7:45.  Lazy Dad says, "We've got to go!"

I scarf down what's left of my dinner. (What? I don't jiggle cause I don't scarf down food people.)

We can't find our waitress to pay.
I use the bathroom.
(Didn't you want to know that detail of our evening?)
I come back.
Still no waitress.
Found her!
We pay.
We leave.

I now have NO CLUE where we are going.  Where I was HOPING he was taking me is already an hour long gone.

Then Lazy Dad hands me some tickets.  And I read on them... Les Misérables!

"YES!" I exclaimed. "This is where I was hoping you were taking me! But I thought it started at 7:00?"

"Nope. Starts at 8:00."

I was SO excited.  Les Misérables is probably my all-time favorite Broadway show since I saw it in New York City in high school. Seriously. The story is so incredible, the music is so moving.  I. HEART. IT.

Now this Mysterday Date is through the roof good.

If you've never seen Les Mis, you simply must (although there are a few crude moments in it).  It's all about the French Revolution and the misery of the poor people at that time.  So they revolt against the government by building primitive barricades in the streets and hunkering down to fight them.  And then there's also romance and unrequited love and bravery and death and amazing compassion. 

Ahh! So good.  So. So. Good.

And the music! Ah! So good. So. So. Good!

So even though our Mystery Date had a rough start, it ended AWESOME.  That Lazy Dad... he's a keeper.

So. Have you seen Les Mis?!  Do you love it as much as I do?  I'd love to know!

Posted in: stories