In honor of Aja, what was your first date? How old and what did you do?

[TheWizard]

I don't remember exactly when it was - late 60s? I don't recall how we met either. She was from the upper-class side of town I was from the lower middle class side. She was gorgeous and I was way out of my league. I picked her up in my Rambler Classic and we headed for a movie on the other side of the river.
Just after exiting the toll booth where I paid 10 cents to cross, the draw bridge went up for a boat to pass. The draw bridge got stuck and we sat there for quite a while - well past the start of the movie. Everyone had to turn around - they even gave me my dime back. She said there was a dollar dance at the beach and suggested we go check out a new band that was becoming popular. I agreed and we drove half an hour to the beach auditorium. I paid the two bucks to get in and we stood and watched/listened to the Allman Brothers Band play for two hours. They were fantastic. After a couple of more dates, we never saw each other again.

That's absolutely terrible!
She sounds like a good catch.
Do you have her email address at this point??

 

[PlayinwithFIRE]

I do recall being at my aunt and uncles one weekend, i was 14? sitting
on a swing when 2 girls approached me, both older, probably 17 or 18. We talked and they invited me to some "party" at the lake.

I had to ask my mom if i could go

She lt me go..my aunt knew the family somehow. We went and I remember being in a competitive situation where a number of guys , all older than me, were struttin their stuff for these girls who invited me along.

At some point, we were in a boat aways off from the house and the older boys jumped in to swim it back...well I jumped in after them and managed not to drown.

Anyways, one of the girls took me off into the woods and provided me with my first...first and 2nd base experience. I was clueless...luckily a Jeep came smashing thru the woods nearby and broke up the moment before it became obvious I was out of my depth

She wrote me some letters, the final one being that she would sick her dog on me if i didnt respond soon hah. She lived half a state away.

pwf

 

[splitwdw]

I was 14 and got asked out by one of my older sister's castoffs. We were all into cars and my first date was to Etown drag strip for NHRA Nationals. I'd been going to Englishtown with family and friends for a long time. The guy that asked me out got me in to meet Don Garlits and one of his buddies worked for Grumpy Bill Jenkins. The man I eventually married blew a couple of engines and transmissions at Etown before he decided that drag racing was too expensive and he'd rather save the money for other things.

 

[FedRetired50]

My goodness, where on earth did a 15-year-old get the money to attend so many proms?

Lawn mowing money was key. I started mowing lawns as a freshman and had a really good business going through high school and after. I blew a lot at the local pool hall on weekend nights, spent a bit on those proms over the 4 years, and had the cash to do pretty much what I wanted.

I graduated high school with $15k in the bank (today's dollars) and some in a T Rowe Price account, even after that early BTD. The start of the bug that let me retire early.

 

[ncbill]

The 70s will never go out of style...

Are powder blue tuxedos back?

 

[Amethyst]

Lawn mowing money was key. I started mowing lawns as a freshman and had a really good business going through high school and after. I blew a lot at the local pool hall on weekend nights, spent a bit on those proms over the 4 years, and had the cash to do pretty much what I wanted.

I graduated high school with $15k in the bank (today's dollars) and some in a T Rowe Price account, even after that early BTD. The start of the bug that let me retire early.

Awesome!! My lawn mowing was strictly for my Dad and it was a complicated lawn, so I got pretty good at mowing . I knew how to clean and maintain the mower, too. OHe paid me $2.00 for an acre and a half with trees and shrubs . I used to envy boys whose dads let them mow other people's lawns for cash. I knew I could make more than $2.00!

 

[FedRetired50]

Awesome!! My lawn mowing was strictly for my Dad and it was a complicated lawn, so I got pretty good at mowing . I knew how to clean and maintain the mower, too. OHe paid me $2.00 for an acre and a half with trees and shrubs . I used to envy boys whose dads let them mow other people's lawns for cash. I knew I could make more than $2.00!

It was a great deal for me. A shame he didn't allow you to do the same.

 

[1242Vintage]

I was 15 and working in a federal program that hires inner city kids to do conservation work. We were housed in transient housing at an Air Force base.

We went to a movie together. Can’t recall the movie we saw. It was a magical afternoon!

 

[Bullwinkle]

I want to write something here, because my experience is so different.

I had no success in HS or college, I did ask on a number of occasions but was turned down. I think least one of my high schools did do dances, but I wouldn't have been popular enough to be told about them. Same story in college.

After graduation I lived in different country and finally did have a girlfriend, but it was a (outwardly) conservative place where unmarried boys and girls are not to be seen together in public, so no dating culture per se. That is not to say there wasn't malarkey going on, just not in public and no dates.

I guess that would put my first date at somewhere in my late 20s when I was back in the USA. We went to a cafe and had coffee, pretty tame. We didn't call it a date but I certainly had my secret hopes, and in retrospect, I suppose it was a date! In my experience, these things all start in the "are we friends or more" gray area and it only becomes a date after the fact if it turns out to be more. I thought I was especially late (especially after reading those previous posts!) but the woman I dated after that was in her mid-30s and I was her first boyfriend.

Maybe things were more clear cut in previous generations? I grew up in the 90s and my experience has been that it's all done very implicitly and by happenstance, with nothing so explicit as dating. You may suspect or hear certain people are "together" but nothing will be confirmed and there is always plausible deniability. The first time I experienced explicit matchmaking type stuff even second hand was in a country where arranged marriages are common. But it was interesting that it seemed much more aboveboard and ok to talk about than the US. There was actual recognizable flirting, which is something I had heard about but never seen let alone experienced, and I had no idea how to react to it. I kind of thought it seemed more healthy and certainly more fun, though the eventual marriages didn't seem any more or less successful.

 

[aja8888]

I want to write something here, because my experience is so different.

I had no success in HS or college, I did ask on a number of occasions but was turned down. I think least one of my high schools did do dances, but I wouldn't have been popular enough to be told about them. Same story in college.

After graduation I lived in different country and finally did have a girlfriend, but it was a (outwardly) conservative place where unmarried boys and girls are not to be seen together in public, so no dating culture per se. That is not to say there wasn't malarkey going on, just not in public and no dates.

I guess that would put my first date at somewhere in my late 20s when I was back in the USA. We went to a cafe and had coffee, pretty tame. We didn't call it a date but I certainly had my secret hopes, and in retrospect, I suppose it was a date! In my experience, these things all start in the "are we friends or more" gray area and it only becomes a date after the fact if it turns out to be more. I thought I was especially late (especially after reading those previous posts!) but the woman I dated after that was in her mid-30s and I was her first boyfriend.

Maybe things were more clear cut in previous generations? I grew up in the 90s and my experience has been that it's all done very implicitly and by happenstance, with nothing so explicit as dating. You may suspect or hear certain people are "together" but nothing will be confirmed and there is always plausible deniability. The first time I experienced explicit matchmaking type stuff even second hand was in a country where arranged marriages are common. But it was interesting that it seemed much more aboveboard and ok to talk about than the US. There was actual recognizable flirting, which is something I had heard about but never seen let alone experienced, and I had no idea how to react to it. I kind of thought it seemed more healthy and certainly more fun, though the eventual marriages didn't seem any more or less successful.

Two engineers from India, and educated in the U.S., worked for me in 1992 here in Texas. They both had wives sent to them from the home country to here in the U.S. sight unseen, I recall.

 

[Bullwinkle]

Two engineers from India, and educated in the U.S., worked for me in 1992 here in Texas. They both had wives sent to them from the home country to here in the U.S. sight unseen, I recall.

I had coworkers do the same, in the 2010s, so as far as I know it's still the norm. Well some sight was seen, they had done video calls first and some basic getting to know.

My grandmother was the same, sent to rural Canada sight unseen. In those days it would have been a sea journey and the getting to know may have been more like EXPECT ARRIVAL IN MAY STOP

 

[aja8888]

I had coworkers do the same, in the 2010s, so as far as I know it's still the norm. Well some sight was seen, they had done video calls first and some basic getting to know.

My grandmother was the same, sent to rural Canada sight unseen. In those days it would have been a sea journey and the getting to know may have been more like EXPECT ARRIVAL IN MAY STOP

Back in 1992 we didn't have much in the way of video calling if I recall. I recall they two engineers were going to take a week off for the marriage.

 

[Koolau]

Two engineers from India, and educated in the U.S., worked for me in 1992 here in Texas. They both had wives sent to them from the home country to here in the U.S. sight unseen, I recall.

Yeah, my office mate had a bride sent to him from his home country. She was a lovely young woman and I think the marriage went well. They had met as children but otherwise did not know each other well.

 

[aja8888]

Yeah, my office mate had a bride sent to him from his home country. She was a lovely young woman and I think the marriage went well. They had met as children but otherwise did not know each other well.

I suppose if the wife didn't work out she could be sent back...

 

[TheWizard]

I suppose if the wife didn't work out she could be sent back...

The standard refund policy, yes.
Unclear on who would pay the shipping charges...

 

[camfused]

It wasn't my first date, but a memorable one was in May of 1977, I was 17 and on a date with Maria, a rather pretty girl. We went to eat, then decided on seeing a movie. We did not know what was playing and drove to the nearest theater, where something called "Star Wars" was playing (opening night). Never heard of it. We walked in the theater and it was packed. The only two open seats together were front-row, center, so we took them. I thought, "great, I am going to get a neck ache", but when the movie started and the Imperial ship floated over our heads, I was completely blown-away. I forget the rest of the date, but I remember the movie, and have since seen every one of the Star Wars movies on opening night (although I do not sit front-row center). I am the only person I know of to have done that.