Cupid's Arrow Hit Him Hard

For anyone that has kept up on my blog, you may recall a couple posts I wrote on Caleb's crush. He has liked this one particular girl since the 4th grade.

At the start of 5th grade, he asked her to be his girlfriend a few times. She simply smiled and walked away. I encouraged Caleb to just wait, "You are only in the 5th grade, it's not like you can take her our on a date or anything. Wait until you are in the 7th grade. Then you can at least ask her to a dance or something."

Well, Caleb is into his first week of the 7th grade. He came home from school on Monday and was on my heels as I picked up around the house then followed me out to feed the bunnies. He normally follows me around like this when he wants to talk about something but is too chicken to bring it up.

"There's a 'Back to School' Dance on Friday" Caleb started.

Smiling to myself- pretty certain I know where this is going, "And are you going?"

Caleb smiled with a big sigh, "You know"... he knew I knew what this conversation was going to be about...

I turned to look at him, "And?"

Rolling his eyes at me for making him say it out loud, "I'm gonna ask Emily to the dance"

"K" I smiled

He begins to shift and shuffle his feet, "What do I say?"

"Well" I began "Just say 'Hey, Emily do you want to go to the dance with me'"

Caleb hems a second, "Yeah, but what do I do? It's not like we're going to the Prom and I can pick her up in a car"

Hmmm... I begin to think about that. Do I take Caleb to her house to pick her up and drop her off? Do they just meet at the dance? Will her parents let us pick her up?... "Well. You could just wait til you get there and then ask her to dance with you"

Back in the house now, Chuck picks up on the conversation. "Pffff. What good is that. If you want to take her to the dance, then ask her"

I throw out another suggestion, "Call her on the phone tonight and ask her"

"That's lame" Chuck tosses in "Ask her in person. What's the worst that can happen? She says 'No'." Chuck shrugs, "Big deal"

I do have to agree with Chuck. If I want a confident son who is willing to take the extra step, I need to encourage him to ask her in person, not resort to the chicken's way of asking over the phone. Asking her in person vs asking her over the phone- this is the sort of thing that will lay a foundation for life... ok, so maybe its not that big of a deal. But it will give him confidence to speak to people in person when the situation is uncertain...

Tuesday- home from school. Caleb smiling as he came through the door. I questioned if he asked her. No. He let the opportunity pass by... nerves I suspect... but commented that her locker is close to his. He would have a chance to ask her the next morning before classes started.

Wednesday- the boys are with their dad, but Caleb called. I could 'hear' his smile across the phone line, knowing he was dying for me to ask, "Well. Did you ask her?"

"Yeah"

"Annnnnddd?" I asked impatiently

"I don't know"... I could tell he was still smiling... "She smiled and walked off"

....Ok, I'm a little miffed now. My son had the nerve to ask her in person and she couldn't muster up a vocal reply of some sort... "Well, what does that mean Caleb?"

His voice a few octaves higher, "I don't know"

"Tomorrow you need to ask her if her answer is 'yes' or what" I continued trying to encourage him, "and I am proud of you for asking her" ...not wanting him to feel like a total sucker...

So- we will see what happens today when he gets home from school.