WORST DATE EVER: A SURVIVOR'S TALE

WORST DATE EVER: A SURVIVOR'S TALE

ALBANY, N.Y. — On their first date — the worst date of his future wife's life — Jason Raylinsky wore a wife-beater T-shirt with dirty jeans.

  And then things got worse.

  Jay, as his friends call him, knew within five minutes of meeting Lauren she was the One, so he thought it best to tell her the most unflattering things about himself. That way she wouldn't hear about them from somebody else.

  ``I wanted to do everything right I could with this girl,'' he said.


  Jay's concept of doing everything right: Over dinner, at a sports bar in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., he told Lauren he'd had a one-night stand with the woman who'd introduced them.

  ``I could tell she wasn't too impressed with that,'' said Jay, an electrician.

  He told her about his DWI conviction and that he lived in his father and stepmother's house. Jay was 28.

  He got drunk. Really, really drunk, on tequila shots chased with Captain Morgan and 7-Ups (he was nervous, and because he hadn't had a drop of alcohol in months, his tolerance had dropped). After dinner, they visited another bar, and then another, where he nearly vomited.

  Lauren, then 22, drove Jason home after that.

  He asked Lauren if she'd like to come in.

  Sure, why not, she said. She did enjoy talking to him.

  ``I've got to hide some things,'' he said, and then left for a moment.

  He couldn't hide how unkempt his room was. The ashtrays looked as if they'd been attacked by cigarette-butt missiles, the fallout everywhere. Empty Ben & Jerry's cartons, a chili-caked bowl and clothing littered the room.

  Lauren surveyed this scene, then had to go. She was meeting a friend. But first, they kissed — if you consider an inebriated guy extending his tongue a kiss.

  ``It was kind of that awkward do-I-or-don't-I moment, and we both just went for it,'' said Lauren, a nursing student who also tends bar in Schenectady, N.Y.

  ``It was the worst kiss ever,'' she added. ``It was so bad I started laughing in the middle of it.''

  Which prompted Jay to plead, ``Wait, I can do better.''

  The date ``was terrible,'' Lauren said. ``But he was funny and honest and we did have a good time, at times.''

  After Jay woke the next morning, he feared he'd blown it. He'd met a funny, kindhearted, outgoing, attractive-yet-modest blonde for whom he'd fallen hard — and given her every reason not to see him again.

  They shared a similar sense of humor, though, so he sent her a text message that read ``So you're impressed, huh?''

  She thought that funny.

  Accompanied by their respective friends, they met again that night, and many nights thereafter. Despite doing everything wrong, everything turned out right: Nine months later, they were engaged and living together. The Glenville, N.Y., couple married 19 months ago and have an 8-month-old daughter, Chloe.

  It all started with Lauren's worst date. None compared. And you know what?

  ``I wouldn't change anything,'' she said.