Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

I learned this week why that axiom exists. Spilled milk is definitely something to cry over.

It happened on my way home from WalMart. I had just finished grocery shopping and had to run into Best Buy for something. When I opened my trunk, I found that a tiny hole in my milk carton had leaked about 1/5th of the milk into the carpet of my trunk. I had always heard the advice/adage that spilled milk should be cleaned up quickly because of how it will sour and smell bad. But, myself, having never had the experience of spilling milk and leaving it soak, ignored the age-old wisdom. I figured it wasn’t much milk, it was only in my trunk, time would take care of it, etc..

Well I was wrong. The next day the whole car smelled absolutely putrid. And the day after that it only got worse. I was absolutely amazed by the power of a little bit of spilled milk. Eventually I went online and googled, “how to get sour milk smell out of car” and went to work with baking soda, vinegar, and various drying techniques. It took a few tries, but thankfully the smell has now been conquered.

But what a lesson. In life, don’t we do this all the time? Our parents, history, and society so often give us wisdom. Wisdom and advice about girls, cars, college, raising kids, etc. But until we actually experience something for ourselves or actually see a real problem, we don’t really internalize the message or lesson. We all inadvertently choose to “learn the hard way” most every time.

But in some ways I’m grateful. A car full of spoiled-milk-smell is quite an experience. So is getting a flat tire. Or getting dumped. Or finding out in…whatever way…that “ya know what….they were right”.

But honestly, take it from me. Clean up the spilled milk ASAP.

100 Girls

-----Reader: Please please please don't get offended from reading the following post. I don't mean it to be derogatory to anybody by any means. It's just a blog entry and some random thoughts, so please take it only as such. Thanks!


100.

It was a lot like New Years, or the day that I had been home from Taiwan for a year, or the day I became a teenager. It was a time for reflection. Last week I went on a date with the 100th different girl since I turned 16. Not 100th date, but rather the 100th different girl. Yeah.

Naturally, I ran some statistics on the data (I’ve been keeping a date log since I began dating). Here are the numbers:
-51 were pre-mission dates (when I was 16-18) and 49 were post-mission (21-22)
-88 were Mormon
-51 were roughly the same age, 37 younger, and 12 older (although it should be noted that most all of the girls I seriously dated in high school were older than me. As an RM at BYU it’s harder to come by girls older than guys).
-59 were Brunette, 30 Blonde, 6 Black, and 5 Red (most of the blondes were post-mission for some reason).
-27 of the 100 girls I dated are now married. Several are on missions.
-I averaged 2.81 dates/girl. So of course there were the few girls that I dated dated and took on 20 something dates and then a lot of the one-shot dates that took down the average.

It’s been interesting looking at patterns and thinking of how things ended, or how friendships are currently going with each one of them. Obviously I’m not married yet, and in all honesty I would love to be married and for everything to just fall into place. It'd be so nice to have one person to have fun with, take care of, get to know super super well, and love.

My sister Camille in many ways set the precedent. She married the 105th guy that she went on a date with. So maybe there’s still hope for me ☺. When she hit the 100 mark she wrote an interesting blog about ice cream. Many people in the world have not gone on as many dates as us Hancocks. It’s just in our nature to like to date. My little brother Braden will probably hit 100 as well. In likening dating to ice cream, many people in the world have partaken of a few ice cream flavors, such as chocolate, strawberry, and peanut butter. Because of this, it’s easy for them to pick their favorite ice cream because their mind remembers these flavors only. After having 100 different flavors of ice cream, however, it becomes very hard to pick a favorite. Every variation of chocolate, fruit, peanut butter, mango, caramel, sprinkle, cake better, and topping has been explored.

And so for now I’ll keep on going! I honestly don’t know who #101 will be, and maybe there won’t even have to be one.

But let it be written and let it be known, Travis Hancock has dated 100 girls.