Tourette's on a First Date! :)

Tonight was my first date with Speed Racer and I have to say it could not have gone better! Speed Racer and I met at Rowing, he doesn't go to my school but he's a senior too and he's on the boy's team. We started talking at rowing and then chatting over facebook and decided that we should hang out sometime. We have a lot in common and a lot of differences but I really think it works out. And of course he knows I have Tourettes since he knows me from rowing. When I first told him that I have TS he seemed curious and asked me questions about it. I really don't mind answering questions at all and really prefer that if people have questions that they just ask so that I can clear things up for them instead of them having to wonder. Speed Racer is not shy about asking me any question that comes to mind about my TS and I am so happy that he isn't shy about it. I suggest that if your going to start dating someone or if your on a first date and you have TS that is noticeable that you tell the person before hand about it! It's so much easier to get that out of the way even before the first date so that you and your date feel comfortable. Also it really puts you at ease knowing that your date is okay going out with someone who has TS and you don't have to keep wondering "what will he think when I tell him?"

He drove to my house to pick me up and then we went out to dinner. When he picked me up I really wasn't ticcing at all and didn't tic much even through dinner. At the start of dinner he said "You know what, I havn't heard even one bird noise! Are you sure you have Tourettes?". Haha, I laughed at this but of course I wasn't offended or anything. I quickly explained to him that people with Tourettes don't tic all the time. I explained that some days I'm twitching and making noises for a good portion of the day but other days I only tic a few times. "You'll see it if you spend enough time with me" I said. He seemed to understand and told me he got it. We had a really good dinner and talked about so many different things. We talked about everything from school stereotypes to stupid things our brothers and sisters do to get us angry. He was such a gentleman too, picking me up and then paying for dinner. We had planned to go see a play at my school afterwards but we were way early so we went out to ice cream to kill some time.

On the way to ice cream I did my bird chirping vocal tic which I knew was unavoidably going to happen sooner or later that night because we had been talking about it. As soon as I did it Speed Racer said "Oh was that it?". I laughed and said it was and then he laughed and said it did indeed sound like a bird. "Yes", I said "like a little parakeet". He laughed at this and then told me he thought it was cool that I did that. Later that night he even said to me "I know you may think it sucks or people may make fun of you for it, but I mean I think people should be jealous, it's kinda really cool".  This really made my night. Heck it maybe even made my week. We both got chocolate ice cream with lots of toppings and at outside even though it was cold. After the ice cream we headed for school to see the play. He's a big talker so we talked the whole way to school on just about every topic imaginable.

I wasn't expecting to much from the play because it was about Einstein and Picaso meeting at a bar, but I was hoping that it would be good. I didn't want to bring my date to a bad play at my school! In my opinion the play was better than I thought it would be but still not the best production I had ever seen at my school. After it was over though Speed Racer told me that it was one of the best high school plays he'd seen! I was glad he liked it so much but wait i'm getting ahead of myself. Anyway during the play I was of course ticcing a lot. Thank goodness I was only doing motor tics though. At one point I was doing some head tics and Speed Racer looked over and saw that my head was down and thought I was choking or something, lol. He leaned over and asked me if I was okay and I reassured him that I was. He then realized it was a tic and said "oh, oh I understand. Sorry", and I reassured him that it was fine.

When we got back in the car he opened the door for me, very gentlemanly!  We talked for a while about the play on the drive and then he brought up how he was sorry again about asking me if I was okay during the play and I explained to him that I don't only have vocal tics but that I also have motor tics which is why I move around so much and in weird ways. He told me he understood and was just glad that I wasn't choking or anything. He then asked me if other people ever comment or get worried about it if I'm sitting next to them. I told him that all my friends know that I have TS of course so they don't get worried or anything but sometimes if I'm sitting next to someone new in class they'll wonder what I'm doing and ask me about it. He then asked me what I do during the ACT in that big room with all those people and I told him about how I get my own private room and lots of awesome accommodations like double time, multiple test dates, and the use of a computer to write my essay. I told him people would probably get mad at me if I tested in the same room as everyone else because it gets 100% worse when I'm stressed about taking a test. He then started joking with me and said "It'd be like being in a bird cage!". I laughed along with him and I found it so comforting that he was already able to joke about it with me and make me feel at ease about it on only the first date. Some of my friends still aren't able to do this. He is certainly a special guy and I hope tonight is only the beginning of our relationship.

We arrived at my house and he told me he had a really fun night and thanked me for bringing him to the play. I told him I had a fun night too and we both agreed that we should do something like this again. He walked out around the car, gave me a hug, and told me to have a good night. Classy, cool, and casual. And on top of that a guy who really understands and is okay with Tourettes. What an awesome night! :)