by Brooke
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Freshman year in college, I was hanging around after a church activity and was eventually cornered by a guy who I didn't really know but had only seen in passing. He (at the behest of a friend standing behind him) proceeded to ask me out on a date for the coming Friday. I wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of going out with someone I hardly knew from Adam, but I thought I should be more open-minded, so I said yes.
School got busy over the following few days and the looming date slipped my mind until he called the night before. "Well, see, I was planning on picking you up at your dorm and then I was thinking we could drive out to the coast and grab dinner somewhere," he said. I was in the middle of hanging out with friends and was sidetracked completely. I was yes-ing and all that, and he finished the conversation by saying something like, "...so I feel bad because she was a close family friend and it was really unexpected and I need to be there because I'm a pallbearer and so I thought I could pick you up at 6 and we can go there first and then go to the beach." Without realizing what he was saying, I said that sounded fine and then hung up.
As I walked away from the phone, I stopped and thought, "Wait, we're doing WHAT??" No joke, I obviously wasn't paying close attention and did I really just commit myself to what seemed like a first date at a FUNERAL?! For sure, I thought there is no way that this could happen. People don't just stop by funerals on a date. You cancel a date for something like that. I just couldn't be sure of what I heard, but I was really starting to dread the next night's coming.
Sure enough, at 6 p.m. the following night he was there and when I got in the car I asked the dreaded question: "So what exactly are we doing again?" And my worst fears were confirmed as he told me that he needed to be at a funeral for a friend of the family, where he was a pallbearer. I started feeling very awkward, not knowing this guy at all and getting annoyed with myself for not listening more closely on the phone.
It was a dark, rainy night (appropriate for dreary Oregon and the situation) and we rode out to the church making small talk. We got to the church and there were people milling around, talking in hushed tones. I followed him into the chapel and the next thing I knew, I was being squished into a chair next to his mother (nothing like meeting the whole family on a first date, either) and he was gone. It was so completely awkward. I looked around the room and when I looked back, his mom had pulled out a thick mini photo album from her purse and was proceeding to give me the family rundown. This is not happening, I thought, this is so, so weird.
I honestly don't remember much else about the funeral, other than the fact that it wasn't just a quick stop-by, and it was honestly really sad because the girl who had passed away was just a bit younger than me. By the time we got in the car and headed out to the beach, I was done. I was exhausted from all the small talk and just wanted to go back to my dorm. As fate would have it, once we made it to the coast, the restaurant we had planned on going to was already closed when we got there and I don't remember at all what we ended up doing. It was a long drive home and, as much as I knew that he probably felt a twinge of regret about how things worked out, I decided that any date that begins with a funeral, also ends with it. It's just too much to ask of someone who you don't know well, I think, especially for a first date. As time has passed, I've learned to laugh at how strange that night was, and now it's my little trump card when the subject of rotten first dates comes up!
First dates are always so awkward and memorable—for good or bad—aren't they? Have a funny, awful or perfect "first date" story? Tell us in the comments—I'd love to highlight more good stories from our readers!
May 21, 2012 
