The Wedding Date – Jagger
It’s not entirely clear to me when this date began or ended and why I got a second date out of it. You guys, if I have learned anything from this its that dating is really weird and I may be really bad at it. He’s the Honey Badger (HB) given the circumstances we met under. Reflecting now I’m not entirely sure why he asked me out in the first place considering the situation.
In April of 2013 I decided it would be a good idea to hop into a van full of people from the internet and run down the coast of Southern California with a team called Mr. Bear & the Honey Badgers. HB was one of those people and one of the few I had never met in person prior. While it was an excellent decision to go it provided for some interesting scenarios like not showering, getting naked in the van, eating weird stuff, sleeping in odd places, and maybe even crying on the floor from frustration/exhaustion. All the attractive things you hope to experience after knowing someone for 48 hours. So when I told people I was going to a wedding and they asked “with who?”, of course I answered with, “this guy I met in a van”.
When I got the Facebook message inviting me to the wedding, I really only got to the wine and dancing part before I said yes. Contemplating the situation I had agreed to only occurred while making the hour drive from San Diego to Temecula where this wedding was. I had met a guy in a van, ran a lot, cried some, and now I was going to a wedding he was officiating where I knew no other humans. The beginning of any good story, amiright?
This turned out to be the most fun I ever had at a wedding. It of course comprised of all the elements for a successful evening: boozing, dancing, interacting with people you don’t know, more boozing, discussing Fantasy Football, aggressively making out at the after party, nearly getting kicked out of the wine bar for said making out, date throwing up on himself, me not noticing, pass out. But the fun did not stop there! After rising from the dead and putting coffee in our faces we started the trek back down to San Diego where ironically I was dropping HB off at his ex-girlfriend’s house for the remainder of the weekend
It would have been a sufficiently exciting weekend if it had been just that, but of course it was not. Somehow being so enthralled in our conversation; neither of us realized we had missed all the exits we could have possibly taken to get to our San Diego destination. This only dawned on us when we saw the giant “Welcome to Mexico” sign and then shortly thereafter, went to Mexico. Cue sweaty palms and freaking out. Had I been with a dear friend I would have thought “typical”. But this being the second time I had any interaction with HB I hadn’t been quite ready to introduce him to the shenanigans I often find myself in. But there we were. In Mexico. Stranded in a car together for an additional four hours or so being heckled by tiny humans and their trinkets. Oh I should also mention that about an hour in I made a game time decision that using the ladies room was necessary since I was panicking and also had consumed a lot of liquid that morning. Note; if you hike down the freeway in Mexico to find an establishment to utilize you will be offered to buy the Virgin Mary or candy at least five times.
Even after all this we still went out a second time, less exotic location the next round. Had he actually lived in the same state I might have made him go on more adventures with me, but that wasn’t the case. He is however still speaking to me even after I abducted him so that bodes well for our friendship and if I am in need of someone to get into trouble with, I’ll know who to call.
