All Womens are beautiful

I had a date on the last leg of my journey around the country. I realize that this in and of itself is pretty much the exact opposite of interesting, but guess what..there's more.

A little context: The way we were introduced was through…unbelievably..this very blog. Julie Gillespie-Weed called me up one brisk November day with the news that I needed to go on a date in less than 24 hours. That was when (in her words) my destiny, the hero of this story, planned to pass through Salt Lake on his way to his family Thanksgiving bonanza. After a little reluctance (mine… hello blind date – reference jail time and snippy experiences) and a bounty of information (Julie…what she remembered anyway) I agreed. Sadly, the flurry of activity and information came to naught. The reason - not sure, but some sort of illness we'll just call the gout (Can I get an amen Ed?) was given as the excuse.

Fast forward to today – the day I met destiny. Or, for the story's purposes let’s just call him Jimmy... cause, well, that’s his name.

After meeting at Jimmy’s house, we made our way to lunch. We left in a convertible which he insisted was not his car only after I commented on the key chain that said, “Live, laugh, love” and the Celine Dion tunes, but who’s to say? We explored the options a bit and ended up at a little Italian joint. What made this place fun was the fact that Jimmy… is fun. I won’t go so far as to say normal, but definitely the good kind of crazy. (FYI: For those of you in the know – he would excel at family game night, which tends to define people. Alice anyone?)

The whole "he's normal thing" is mildly disappointing, because it leaves me with less material to blog about - but I digress. Back to Jimmy - he talks to EVERYONE. Which I know some family members are thinking sounds a lot like me, but he is me times about.. let’s say, 5. Or 15. He is so friendly and engaging that when we sat next to a couple of Mexican cabrones (this we discovered means dudes and not something bad, after he called them that) he immediately started chatting them up in English and Spanish. He had them laughing their heads off and loving him in mere minutes. There were a few comments of note in the conversation:

1. Shortly after sitting down Jimmy announced that this was our first date to the guys, and asked the younger one (Carlos) “Do you think she’s pretty?” Carlos, looking a bit nervous replied, “uh, yeah...all womens are beautiful.” (Ouch. This I might add is not a huge boost to the self-esteem, but let’s just assume it’s a language thing. I’m still coming down off my all-men basketball trip where I was feeling like hot stuff, so I’m going to roll with this theory.) He then told them that we were engaged. We spent a good portion of the conversation after that discussing their fear over our rapid engagement.

2. He also announced that I was Mormon. They wouldn’t believe it. The reason? I quote, "she would dress differently." I’m still puzzled by how, but I was wearing jeans, a white button down and a sweater vest. I think he may have seen some Big Love and was expecting a pioneer get-up. My theory is that he couldn't imagine a Mormon would be with Jimmy because Mormons don’t drink or smoke and they were pretty sure at first that he was high. On drugs. This is what they said.

3. Carlos informed us that we should order some oysters. Apparently this makes you “like a bull.” I’ll leave that alone.

4. Carlos also told Jimmy, “You are so funny, that just looking at your face makes me laugh.” Again, let’s chalk it up to language barrier.

5. After one particularly crazy Jimmy moment Carlos asked him, “Do you ever get sort of strange looks when you are in restaurants?” I imagine Carlos thought this was subtle, but we were pretty clear on the message as we looked at each other and burst out laughing.

6. Finally, after leaving, and walking down the street to our car, we heard someone yelling to us from a truck and turned to see Carlos and friend driving by. In the restaurant, Carlos had told us how racist it was around here and how he gets pulled over all the time just for being Mexican. He began to rant about how he is legal and they need to step off, yo. Wow - Anger. And frankly, deservedly so. Anyway, I don’t remember the first things that were yelled from the car to Jimmy and back, but perhaps the funniest thing I have ever heard yelled from a car was in response to Jimmy shouting to Carlos to watch out for the police. Carlos screamed out the window (while pounding his car) “Hey!! I’m a Mexican!! Arrest me! Pull me over!” Everyone was staring at him on the street in this very posh part of town open-mouthed. It was priceless. Seriously – I’m Mexican –Arrest me! It’s burned in my brain.

There were many funny moments, but I'm stopping here. However, I feel like a shout out is due to our man Jimmy - especially as it ties back to what seems to be the theme of the week for me. (Note: Sean Respert blog.)

I don’t know Jimmy very well, how could I in 2 short hours? but here’s the skinny on the fat, people: I learned something today. He's got a gift for making people feel happy and for doing what he can to “lift” those around him. It's two-fold. 1. He makes friends with everyone without judgment. 2. When he paid our bill he also covertly picked up the bill for Carlos and friend. When they found out, Carlos wanted to pay him, but Jimmy simply said “pay it forward.” In different words – Spanish ones specifically – but hey, same meaning. This, in my book, is quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever seen on a date, or even not on a date. Let's say in a person. It may not be off-beat or funny (which is how I usually like to roll here) but it is most certainly deserved and inspiring. If you’re reading this, and frankly how can you resist, you've got a heart of gold Jimmy Kindred. Gout and all.