Friday Night Fun in Utah!

Both Mel and I were so excited to finally be in Utah, even if he didn’t have a place to live, a car, or a job! We were BOTH jobless and homeless!

Our plan was to go to our first LDS Singles Dance that night at one of the area church buildings. One of the most noticeable things about Utah is that there seems to be an LDS church on every corner, kind of like seeing Walgreens, Rite Aid and other Drug stores in Michigan! That sure makes the drives on Sunday mornings a lot shorter, compared to when i had to drive 30+ minutes to Charlevoix each week.

We had heard about the dance through my friend Klixi, from Grand Blanc MI, and who was in Salt Lake for the birth of her daughter Megan’s baby just the week prior. Klixi and I had dated for about a year since March 2008, and remained close friends, and still enjoyed going out together, especially to church singles events. Just the week before, I had also invited Sylvia, whom I had not yet met, to join us for the dance.

It’s a tradition in Mormon country that BYU always plays on the Friday night prior to conference (probably so those fans will pay attention and watch the Church Conference and not football on Saturday!). So we made plans to meet at Lumpy’s Sports Bar to watch the game and eat before the dance.

After an hour spent unloading my roof carrier, the trunk, and the inside of the car of all my and Mel’s worldly possessions into Dax’ garage, we headed out to pick up Klixi, and find Lumpy’s. It wasn’t an easy task, as Lumpy's sports bar was tucked behind a couple of other buildings. I suspected this was a result of the days when “private clubs” were the only way non church members could get a drink in public in Salt Lake City, keeping these undesirable places hidden from view as much as possible. Klixi, Mel and I found a table in the back, near the TV, and set down to look over the menus.

Bummer alert... the Detroit Tiger game had just ended and my beloved Tigers had lost, which was an ominous sign of things to come for them over the next few days!

Knowing it would be near impossible for Sylvia to find the place, I left Klixi and Mel at the table, and stood out front on the phone, guiding her to the parking lot. I was anxiously awaiting my first look at this Single Sister from Michigan that I had been told would be “just my type”, by my friend Mark back home. She had also been told by her friend Linda, the same thing, so we were both curious about meeting.

When she stepped out of her Camry, I noticed her long legs, flowing blond hair, and pretty face, and thought to myself, "she sure is good looking" (not sure, I may have used the word "hot"!). Her first words to me were something to the effect that she “really had to go to the bathroom”, so I knew she was just a regular gal, and led her inside to find the ladies room.

I went over to the table to check in with Mel and Klixi, and then decided to be a gentleman and wait by the rest room door, since our table was tucked in the back and might be hard for her to find. As Sylvia came out of the rest room, she was laughing, and started telling me the story of what had happened to her while in there.

While she was sitting on the throne, her phone rang out on the counter, where she had set it, and since she was expecting an important call from “Ofer” the Moving guy bringing her stuff from Michigan, and had already been cutoff once, she was racing to get it, and as she was pulling up her pants, she got a sliver in her hand from the beautiful décor (old barnwood?) in Lumpy’s bathroom. There she was, grabbing for the phone, with her pants half up, and hand bleeding from the injury...what a site...good thing nobody else walked in at that moment!

When she shared that with me, and laughed about it and called herself a "Dork", I figured she was a lot like me!

Following a fun dinner and “getting to know each other” time…it occurred to me that this scene was a little odd, as here I was sitting with my ex girlfriend, while trying to impress a “new prospect”. All the while, Mel was rooting out loud for the BYU Cougars, while most of the other patrons in Lumpy’s were shouting him down... we had not known until we got there that Lumpy’s is a HUGE University of Utah bar-BYU’s arch rivals! So there were a couple of "tense" moments when Mel got a little boisterous.

Klixi also pointed out that she was the only one in our group that had a job and a home, as Sylvia too, had just moved out from Michigan to live nearer to her daughters and find a job as a Dental Hygentist. If nothing else, Sylvia and I had in common our desperate circumstances!

At halftime of the game, we departed for the church dance, with Sylvia following us and finally found the right church (out of about 20 we passed). I spent most of the time dancing with Sylvia, while Klixi danced with the DJ and other guys brave enough to ask her, and Mel watched, or went out to the car to check on the game (BYU won).

We left the dance before midnight, said goodbye to Sylvia, dropped off Klixi at her daughters place, and headed back to Dax' house for the night, looking forward to General Conference the next day....All in all, it was a good first day in Utah!