I Heart Preemies

This title is not referring to babies (well, I suppose that could be debated).
It's referring to pre-missionary boys. Yes. Boys.

You see, when I was in high school, I basically had the best friends ever. My guy friends rocked my socks off (and they still do...they are just all on missions...so I never get a reminder, you know?). Whenever a school dance came rolling around, or even sometimes just for fun, one of my guy friends would ask me out. We would go on the date and have the greatest time.
We'd be ourselves.
We could talk about anything.
I didn't have to worry about looking/acting like an idiot.
He didn't have to worry about impressing me.

It was just plain good.

But as soon as I came to college, all of that changed.

Suddenly, a date means that the boy is screening you as a potential eternal companion. It means that you passed the first and most basic test: he finds you semi-attractive and at least remotely interesting.
The first date is its own kind of survival-of-the-fittest. To weed out the unworthy, if you will.
It can be extremely stressful and also disheartening.
Which is why the last date I went on was particularly refreshing.
I went on a date with a Preemie.

Apparently, my mother has been in contact with the institute here in Cedar, because they are trying to get us married left and right (just like she is). Usually, the prompting is left to talks, and firesides, and more talks. But lately, they've gotten a little more creative. They have started doing regular "date nights." The institute plans an activity and tells you to come if (or should I say when) you can find a date. The activities are generally fairly entertaining and creative and there is always food involved (they know how to advertise to starving college students).

This time around they planned a picture scavenger hunt. Preemie and I have been friends since August. We're in the same ward and this semester we are in the same Mission Prep institute class (go figure). He's basically super hilarious. And the date was so fun. It was good to just go out knowing that there were zero expectations (I mean, the kid already has his call). We had a great time.

We took lots of pictures. But here are some of our best:

We had to take a picture like we were advertising our favorite food. Incidentally enough, we both love a refreshing Corona (for my mother's sake: I AM just kidding).

This is of me eating something that is delicious and nutritious (number 5 on the list).

Another item on the picture list was "Take a picture of playing a sport. You must be dressed in appropriate attire." So Preemie and I hit up the local Sport's Authority. They were super nice and helped outfit us in matching baseball uniforms.

And, yeah, it was just really good, clean (minus the beer), non-stressful fun. I recommend it for anyone who is getting sick of the dating world (but make sure you find a mature Preemie...otherwise, I have no guarantees for this being rejuvenating).

The only bad part happened when I wrote to my brother Kyle about it. I told him all about the awesomeness of going on a date with a Preemie. This was his response:

"Your not going to get married if your only dating pre-mission boys, I think your the best hope for mom. So go get them." *

Sigh. He might be right. But I have my goals. And I'm trying to stick to them. Dating Preemies will only increase my chances of succeeding. It probably won't help my mom out...but what's a girl to do?

*the misspelled words are his, not mine. I only copied and pasted.