It was in finding an old friend of mine from Petaluma that something like the following conversation took place...
Me: "Hey do you remember going through the bullet interview?"
Friend: "How could I forget it!"
Me: "Do you still have the bullet?"
Friend: "It's not exactly something you throw away!"
Keep in mind this bullet interview took place in 1993! That's right 17 YEARS ago! (Which is older than MOST of my Young Women!) Anyway I started to wonder if other young men still had their bullets... I'm not about to start contacting all of my old dates/boyfriends so I asked the young man who ONLY asked me out so he could see what this "bullet interview" was all about! Yes that's right I got asked out so someone could have a bullet with their name on it! Sigh, can you tell what kind of dating life I had? That conversation went a little something like this...
Me: "Hey I know this is totally random, but I'm just wondering if you still have the bullet from the ONE date we had all those years ago."
Mr. I really only want to take you out so I can have a bullet: "That's not exactly something you throw away...I even know where it is!"
I have to admit that I was really surprised by this! I figured one MIGHT have it but not the other and for sure not both.
Okay just so everyone is on the same page...here is the story about Bullet Interviews:
My Dad had two daughters and to ensure their safety while in the dating years (16-18 years old) he came up with "The Bullet Interview"! When a young man asked my sister or me out we had to politely ask them to come a few minutes early so that my Dad could talk to them. When the young man arrived I was instructed to not be around so that my Dad could answer the door and issue the young man to the garage where ALL MY DAD'S RELOADING items were. The two would sit down and begin the interview while my father reloaded 2 shotgun shells. The first shell had the date on it, was filled with rock salt, and had no primer. The second had the young man's name and the date on it, rock salt, and a primer. The conversation would be about opening the car door, being polite and respectful, that the young man was in charge of my safety for the duration of the date, etc. Then my father would load the bullet with the young man's name on it into his shotgun and tell the young man that what was discussed in the interview was not EVER to be discussed with me and to have me home by midnight...or else! I always asked what was said in the interview and not one of the young men I dated ever told me...and now I know why! The deal was that once we got married my Dad would make a gift of the bullets to us and tell what was said in the interview...but not until then.
Every date reacted differently to the interview. One came out looking pail and refused to touch me closer than arms length, another sat in the garage and chatted it up with my Dad for 30 minutes, another never asked me out again. I loved the bullet interview because it took the pressure off of me to explain things and it meant that if you mess with me you answer to my Dad...and he can be pretty intimidating. Here are the bullets...
I found this whole thing to be rather amusing and shared it with my Dad. He then said "Oh, ya I think I still have those bullets!" and went looking for them!Oh, ya he still had them! I picked them up today and we talked about each one...the last one I picked up felt a lot heavier than the rest so I asked "What's in this one?" to which my cute Dad replied..."I was a little worried about that guy so that one is real!" WHAT?! I had to laugh!
Can you guess which date it was? If you guessed the guy who came out pail and wouldn't touch me you are right! He was the only guy I dated, minus my cute husband, who never made feel bad for having high standards and never once asked me to lower them.
So what was the BIG mystery that I wasn't suppose to know about until after I was married? At the end when he loaded the shotgun shell into the shotgun he not only warned them not to say anything to me and told my curfew he also said "Never let the little head tell the big head what to do"
I was almost 23 when I got married and my father told me the secret behind the interview! I was so embarrassed! "Oh, my gosh Dad I can't believe you said that to my dates!" Now that I think about it...why did he have to stop at 18? I should have had him keep going until I got married!
