Okay, folks, you have heard the funny side and the down side of online dating. I think it’s time you heard about the Perfect Online Date, the date I met at a local restaurant, who proved to be nothing less than delightful.
It began with an innocent flirt stating, “I’m interested in you.” Have had these before and they usually led to a first date also known as the last date or far too often, hackers or scammers. I informed him my subscription would end mid-month because, frankly, I lost confidence in this being the way to meet Mr. Right. His response?
“Is that fried chicken in the picture?”
Offline my response was “huh?” until I remembered the initial picture showed me in front of a non-descript picture of food at a bar with a friend. Somehow that moved on to how we met our spouses and him wondering what happened to make me cancel.
It turned out we had much of the same things happening and he considered cancelling his, too. Both of us wrote to multiple people only to receive no response. That pretty much tells the writer that far too many dating site folks have no manners whatsoever. Or they assure you they have found another, yet leave their pictures up on the site. This is the kiss-off line used online and off.
Oddly enough, this conversation led us to sympathizing and before I knew it, he asked to meet me for lunch. He had none of the signs of a con artist and all the signs of a good guy, so I agreed. Usually, if I accept a date nerves set in immediately and I am a wreck by the actual day and time. For some reason, that did not happen this time. Even though we wrote to each other a mere six days, it was as though I had known this man much longer.
I arrived at the restaurant first and managed to grab the first booth, the better to see him with, my dears. He walked in and it did not seem a bit odd to go up to him, give him a hug and lead him back to our table. Again, it was a first.
We quickly ordered and continued with a conversation that began as soon as we sat down. Having promised my daughter, who has Down’s syndrome, to be home by 3:30 p.m., I glanced at my watch expecting to see that perhaps thirty minutes had passed. Imagine my shock to see we talked for over two hours and I had to leave immediately for any chance of keeping my promise to her. Had she been able to understand a broken promise, I might have done so. Alas, she knows promises made must be kept.
He held my hand on the way to the car and again, it felt right. Before I got in the car, he brushed my forehead with a kiss. How did he know more would have been the wrong move to make?
It was the perfect online dating experience, except for one tiny little thing and to his credit, he told me up front there might be a hitch in our relationship. It seems a lady, with whom he has been friends since the age of fourteen, contacted him a short while ago and she wants them to get together. Evidently, the attraction has been there but neither acted on it as first one got married and then the other. For the first time they are both free to act on the attraction. She lives in another state. He is telling her she needs to try living here before making a final decision because it is culture shock from her current home.
We parted. I wished him the best and truly hoped we can remain friends. He strikes me as the type of person who would be a loyal husband, friend, child or sibling and, these days, that is a rare and wonderful thing. It seems again, a prince has once more become a friendly frog.
Maybe the next man I meet will not have his heart elsewhere. Maybe he will be a fascinating conversationalist. Maybe there will be no nervousness at the thought of meeting him. And maybe the moon will be green as the cheese it is made of molds. Sigh.
My blog partner says this sounds very familiar to her, as though I wrote it before. The reason? Because it sounds an awful lot like how I met my husband.
