He Took Me Rock Climbing on the First Date and I Cried on the Wall

When he suggested rock climbing for our first date, I said yes because I wanted to seem cool and adventurous. I am neither of these things. I do Pilates and occasionally jog. The most extreme thing I do at the gym is use the foam roller on my IT band while silently screaming.

But I said yes. Because he was cute. And because I am an idiot.

We get to the climbing gym. He's done this before, obviously. He's putting on the harness like it's nothing, chatting with the staff, looking all confident and relaxed. Meanwhile I'm staring up at the wall like it personally offended me.

"Start with the easy one!" he says, pointing at a wall that goes STRAIGHT UP INTO THE CEILING.

That's the EASY one??

I get maybe eight feet up. My arms are shaking. My fingers are cramping. I look down and realize I'm barely above his head height and I'm already having a spiritual experience. Not the good kind.

"You're doing great!" he calls up.

I am NOT doing great. I am clinging to a plastic rock with my entire life force while my legs turn to jelly.

Then I make the mistake of looking down again and my eyes start watering. Not like, a single tear. Full waterworks. On the wall. On a first date.

He doesn't laugh. He doesn't make it weird. He just calmly talks me through getting down, tells me about his first time climbing (apparently he also froze on the wall), and suggests we go get food instead.

Reader: we got tacos. The tacos were excellent. The conversation was even better. He told me he picked climbing because he wanted a date where we'd actually DO something together instead of staring at each other over coffee. Which honestly? Good logic. Poor execution with me specifically, but good logic.

We're four dates in now. We've been back to the climbing gym twice. I can get halfway up the intermediate wall. He cheers like I summited Everest every single time.

If you're thinking about an active first date, this guide has way better ideas than just "go climbing" — though honestly, even my disaster turned out okay. It's hard to keep your walls up (pun intended) when you're literally crying on a wall in front of someone.

Sometimes the worst dates make the best stories. And sometimes the best relationships start with tacos.

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