My hands were shaking uncontrollably as my nerves kicked in. I was curling my hair and doing my makeup because my boyfriend, Cameron, and I were getting ready to go to dinner to celebrate our one-year anniversary. We had planned our anniversary dinner weeks in advance, unlike our usual dates that were casual and impromptu. Since I did not want anything to go wrong, the anticipation to have the perfect date would follow me around for the rest of the night. As I heard the doorbell ring, the butterflies in my stomach were uncontrollable.

“You look beautiful,” he said opening my car door. As we made our way to The Cheesecake Factory, I could not help but feel awkward, which was a feeling I never felt around Cameron. I could see in his face that he was uncomfortable too. Why does this not feel right, I thought to myself. We had gone on so many dates in the past, but I had a feeling that this one was going to be different.

When we walked through the doors of The Cheesecake Factory, the sweet aroma of  cheesecake calmed my nerves a bit and got me excited for dinner. Once the hostess sat us, I could tell something about Cameron was still off by the way he kept nervously tapping his feet under the table. I started to get annoyed because this night was supposed to be perfect, and I did not understand why there was this awkwardness between us.

After we ordered our dinner, Cameron’s shaky hand reached over to grab a straw and he accidentally hit his glass of sprite. Before I could move out of the way, the contents of his cup spilled out and left a sticky pool of liquid all over my favorite shoes and my feet. In addition, the cup continued to roll down the table, knocking over the bright red marinara sauce all over my brand new white jeans.

Suddenly my whole body was red and hot as anger and aggravation rose inside of me. It took everything in me to suppress my emotions in order to avoid making Cameron feel worse than he already did. Before I said or did something I knew I would regret, I went to the bathroom and tried to calm myself down. I realized that I was not even upset with him. I was mostly aggravated because nothing was going the way I had planned. Before I left, I reminded myself that things do not always go the way I want them too. So, I decided to put my emotions aside and try to save what was left of our anniversary celebration.

As I walked back to the table, I felt awful. I saw Cameron sitting there with his head in his hands probably thinking about how he ruined the entire night. He looked up at me apologetically as I approached the table.  

“I...I...I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened. I was just so nervous because I wanted everything to be perfect for you,” he explained.

“It’s okay,” I interrupted. “It’s just a stain, and I can easily get it out!” Relief filled his face, and I could already tell he was feeling better.

When the food arrived, we both agreed that we wanted to get out of the restaurant as soon as possible. We boxed up our food, paid the bill, and picked up ice cream on the way home. After having told our parents about the eventful night we had, we decided to stay home, eat ice cream, and watch a movie together. We had so much fun and could not stop laughing at the night we had. We realized that we did not need perfectly planned dates to have a great time and promised to never get so obsessed with making things perfect again.

Since there was so much pressure to make this date perfect, we lost sight of who we are as a couple and what we actually enjoy doing. I was very proud of myself for not overreacting and losing control of myself. Instead of getting mad and losing my temper, I put myself in Cameron’s shoes and understood how sad I would have been if he was upset with me. I saw this accident as a blessing because we had a great night and a hilarious story that we would never forget. Having used the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, self-control, I was able to see the bright side of the situation and understand that the best moments in life are unplanned.