Shmalintines day

I knew it was going to be a unusual church meeting when Brian and I got an email asking us if we wanted to be the ward spotlights. Every Sunday in the sacrament meeting program, two people are featured as the spotlights of the week. Well this Sunday was the Couple's Edition.

So Brian and I not only got to write about ourselves, but the story of how we met. And dating tips. This is what we submitted.

About Meg:

I am studying Linguistics at the U. I work at the Daily Utah Chronicle. I was part of the first graduating class of Syracuse High School. Once I was charged by a moose. I have met the Dali Lama. I like unicorns and Harry Potter. My favorite book is probably Little Women. I have read The Elements of Style about 6 times. I once had a fish named Cyrano de Bergerac. He died valiantly after several involuntary fasts. I lost his food when I moved. I have never been east of Texas.

DaSha introduced us. She claimed she wasn’t setting me up, but it was a lie. It turned out alright though. Our first date was on a Thursday, and I had a test the next day so I was nervous the whole date. Our second date was when things really started to click.

We are both trying to not eat meat or drink soda, which is really hard. We both love omelets at the Blue Plate and watching Dr. Who and Community. We both love writing, but Brian’s better at poetry and I’m better at research papers. We are both fans of banjo music.

About Brian:

I was born in Iowa, but have lived in Salt Lake most of my life. I am studying English and writing at Slicktown. I have met Mandy Moore, and there is photographic proof on facebook. I like records and books, and I have large collections of both. My favorite book is A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway. I served a mission in Lisbon, Portugal. I jumped on a moving train while I was there. I love western shirts. Scott Pilgrim is my hero. I play the guitar fairly well. I am a photographer, and have done weddings in lands as distant as Portland, OR.

I put tons of pressure on DaSha to introduce me to Meg. I bugged her about it every day until it happened. When I called Meg, her voicemail said, “Sing your song at the beep.” I sang something rather terribly, and it was absolutely awkward but it seems like it turned out well.

Dating tips from Meg & Brian:

Grow a beard. Wear deodorant. Don’t do all the talking. Don’t talk about deceased pets on a first date. Quote some Shakespeare, but not too much. Try showing up in a hovercraft, that has to be impressive, right? Wear a t-shirt with wolves on it. Most of all, be yourself and don’t worry about it too much.

This is fine. A bit awkward, but cool. We're sitting there and we hear a guy behind us reading the dating tips. He gets to the one about beards and says "I don't know how he expects girls to grow a beard." We giggled.

Sacrament meeting starts. It's pretty average, for our ward anyway. We're not a typical Mormon ward to begin with, notwithstanding the fact that we're in a single's ward. For one, Thomas S. Monson's son is our bishop.

Today he announced that we now have a new committee. The Dating Committee. This is real.

He said that too many young men fall in love with a girl before they even ask her on a date. And then when they get on the date, they're too overwhelmed to talk to her. He wants the dating committee to help facilitate neutral, no pressure dates so people can learn to have decent conversation. Quote:"Do you like facebook?"

Later in the meeting, one of the members in the stake presidency was speaking. He remarked about how he supported Bishop Monson's decision to have a dating committee. And I don't know if he meant to be funny, but the he said, "And if you're not good at talking, it's OK. In dating, some of the best ways to get to know people are through silence. You can get to know each other without talking."

The congregation burst up laughing. This is Shmalitines day in a singles ward.

After the block we had a mingle pink and red sprinkled-donuts, grapes, oranges and "wine" in fancy "glasses." There was also a table to make cards.

This is grand.