Happy B-Day Chari & Our Story Part II

Before I go on with our story, let me take a moment and wish my beautiful wife a happy birthday (Wednesday). Chari, I wish I were with you on your B-Day. I'm sorry you're sick and I can't be there to give you a well deserved day off. You are an amazing women. I hope you find some joy on your B-day. I'm glad you are enjoying this brief trip through our past. Thank you for making my life complete. I love you and hope all your B-Day wishes come true.

OK - If you didn't get a chance to read part one, you probably should read that first or you'll be lost. Now, back to the story.

Chapter 3 Cont’d ….Race Day…Date Day part II

After lunch I’m down on the track getting ready for finals. My friend from Cottonwood, Frankie Torres, comes jogging over. Here’s the conversation:

F - “Swensen”
B - “What’s up Frankie”
F - “Dude, man, Roger wants to beat you up!”
B - “What?”
F - “Yeah, last night we ran into him at the Golden Spoon (Ice cream place) and he was freaking pissed! He was on fire. He said he was coming up to the race today and it is now personal.”

So right about now I’m trying to figure out how it is that Roger found out so quickly. Back to business on the track. I continue warming up. Roger and I have a mutual friend who hurdles for Alta named Dan Bergstrom. Danny wanders over my way as we warm up together.

B – “What’s up Danny”
D – “Dude, Swens, Roger wants to beat you up!”
B – “Man, you’re the second person to tell me that in 10 minutes.”
D – “You asked out Chari?”
B – “Yes…yes I did”
D – “Sweet! (And then he proceeds to give me a high five)
D – “Awsome. Well, all this morning he was just going off about how mad he was and how he wants to beat you up.

Now you do the math because this part has always puzzled me. I asked Chari out somewhere around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon. She was at the meet for most of the day. Remember this is 1993 and pre-dates cell phones. Frankie ran into Roger sometime around 8:00pm and already knew about our date. So, there is like a 2 hour window there where Roger talks to someone and finds out about the date…..Chari, care to comment on this one??????? All I know is it hasn’t even been 24 hours since I asked Chari out and the news has already infiltrated 5 different high schools, not to mention everybody and their dog knows that Roger wants to take a few shots at me. I’ll say this…apparently he is pretty protective of his “good friends”. Or maybe he doesn’t know he’s been downgraded to that status yet. Things that make you go Hmmmmmm

The afternoon gets worse. I do HORRIBLE in my finals races. A lack of concentration and composure on my part. Not what I was hoping for. But, I’ve got a big date so I’m excited. I head home and clean up. I call Chari to decide on what to do for our date. Now follow this. She asks me how I’m doing. I say, well, I had a tough afternoon, didn’t do so well in the finals. She says “I heard, what happened?” You what? You heard already? Ok, hold up. I just called. I’ve been home for less than an hour. How have you heard? Am I missing something? I’ll remind you again that this pre-dates cell phones, email, facebook, twitter, and anything else you can think of. Man is this girl connected.

Our first date almost bombs at the start. Back in the day, I was just getting into country music. What I was not aware of is that Chari’s family was very anti-country music. I picked her up and we headed out to the sports park. I ask her what type of music she likes and she said whatever. I tell her I’m getting into country and ask if that’s ok. She says sure. What she was thinking though was “What did I get myself into…”. (You’ll note I got most of her family to do a 180 degree turn on country. They are bigger fans than I am.) After that, the date goes awesome. We go miniature golfing and ride the go carts at the sports park. I try my hardest to lose at miniature golf but it isn’t to be. There is one hole where you have to hit your ball up towards the door that opens and shuts. I purposely aim my ball to the side so I will miss the door opening and pick up a few extra strokes. The problem is, I hit my ball too far to the left. My ball goes off the path, hits the side of the shack, roles down the grass, onto the green, and into the hole for a hole in one. I tried…it just isn’t happening. Then we eat dinner at the Training Table and end the night watching a video at Chari’s house. We have great conversation and seem to get along well. At the end of the date, I ask Chari if I can see her again the next Friday night and she says yes. I am excited all the way home. What a great first date and somehow I’m sure Roger knows all about it before I get home.