Happy Birthday to me!

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The next day, my “friend” called to warn me again about how unwise it was for me to continue seeing David. He taught me a new phrase, “burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me.” I had really never heard it before, but I wasn’t completely sure that it was inaccurate. Of course, it didn’t really change anything about my feelings.

David came home from LV brimming with talk about a girl named Jacque. I hated her already. Until I found out that she was probably about to be engaged to good ol’ Scott. Suddenly, I couldn’t wait to meet this sweet girl (who probably would not be cool with her fiancé bowling every Saturday).  For the next few weeks, David and I saw each other at dances and would often get together for a movie. We had a lot of laughs watching “Joe vs. the Volcano” together and David took to referring to himself as a “flibber-de-jibbit”. This didn’t really do my heart any good, but what is a girl to do?

Meanwhile, my birthday was fast approaching, May 1^st, May Day. I had always LOVED my birthday and looked forward to it with child-like glee. David began telling me stories of how he had always tried to buy people’s love, like, with a Guess jacket for a former girlfriend or ruby earrings for another one. He was so glad to have a relationship with a girl who he felt so comfortable with that he didn’t have to buy her affections. Hmmm!?. How to take that? Was I really that wonderful friend, everybody feels close to, or was he just being cheap because I wasn’t really all that important?

My birthday rolled around and David showed up with a gift, inside I found a mission journal and filler. Let me ‘splain. If you’re not LDS, when a young Mormon decides to go on a church mission, one of the things that they take with them is a “mission journal” to record all of their experiences. Boys generally go on their missions when they are 19 and girls can go after they turn 21 if they choose. (Remember, David getting home from his mission in Alaska?) My friend Mary and I had discussed the possibility and actually attended Mission prep classes on Sunday. I’m sure I told David about this, and this was his response. My mom and one of my aunts both seemed to think that this was a great idea. I was not so sure. It sounded good and positive, but also scary and long. However, back to the present. I was not quite sure how to take being given a missionary journal by the boy that I wanted to spend all of my time with. We actually started to talk seriously about things and he reiterated his feelings of fear about a serious relationship. He shared with me that he could really see us being together for a long time, but he wasn’t ready for that. He was hoping that if I decided to go on a mission, maybe he would be ready to be together by the time I got back. That didn’t really sound logical to me.