Blind Dates

The thing about blind dates is that they work. Sometimes. Especially in my family.

In fact, I'd say they are hereditary.

My grandparents met on a blind date.

My parents met on a blind date.


My brother met his wife on a blind date.

And guess what my parent's first blind date consisted of?

Mini-golfing!

Guess what my first date with Ben was?

Mini-golfing!

Coincidence? I think not...

A year ago today, 25 May 2011, I went on a blind date (probably the billionth for Ben and I) with Ben, my husband.

The morning of the 24th I was having a conversation with my co-worker Josh about dating. Somehow, through a name mishap, Josh thought I was talking about Ben Browning when I was talking about a different Ben. He asked what I thought about his elders quorum president, and I responded that this person was not an elders quorum president. Well, we found out we were talking about different Bens, and Josh convinced me that I should go out with Ben Browning; after all, he was a Y graduate, too, and one of the best people he knew. He immediately texted Ben and set us up for the following night--talk about pro-activity! Ben called me that night to ask me on the phone, and we talked for an hour, and we hadn't even met each other yet!

So the next night we went mini-golfing, both a little scared that we wouldn't have anything left to talk about. However, we talked the whole game and thus played the slowest game of mini-golfing ever, and then talked in an hour in the driveway to top it all off. This was a good sign, especially for me who loves good, deep conversations--nothing compares! I was smitten, and the rest is history :)

After it all, Ben recalled that I said my grandpa had a farm in West Haven, close to where his boss had farmed as a youth. Turns out, Ben's boss is my mom's cousin who had worked on my grandpa's farm. We also found out we knew many of the same people at BYU (it's kind of ridiculous, actually), and a month before we were actually set up, someone else had said they wanted to set us up, but we didn't find out until later--crazy. So many connections, and yet it took us a while to find each other.

Timing is everything, and the Lord had the perfect time for us to find each other, May 25th. So Happy May 25th, and if you are single, go on blind dates; they may actually work on the 122nd time!