Great Date Number One...

By now you are probably thinking: does this chic have any good dating stories to share. Well, yes I do. They are called “Great Dates” in my mental dictionary. But, they have been few and far wedged in between the many flops.

For a gal who truly wasn’t use to trying to fill up every other weekend without the kids, I tried to engage in all sorts of activities and invitations. I took up tennis lessons despite the twenty year golf swing, learned to enjoy the near sexual climactic experience of Hot Yoga, try my hand at pool in the smoky biker bar, sing karaoke, and even took a few road trips alone for wine tastings, museums and other weekend excursions. But, I always came home to wondering when and where the next date might be, who it would be with and just continued putting myself out in the playing field-no not left field! And, when or where would that first real good experience take place, if ever.

One night I actually was double booked on a Saturday. My girlfriend of many years, Sally, was having an end of summer party at her place and another dear friend was turning 50 and having a huge celebration-both on the same night. What to do? I decided to plan a showing at Sally’s place, certain she would understand having to duck out early for a once in a lifetime party for Mike. At Sally’s place, the catered party was an absolute scene of pure fun! There were no fewer than 50 people, most of whom I had either seen around town or never seen before in my life- a great mixing place! As Sally and I shared many laughs over losing the “bottom” of her disposable wine glass, in walked a pure out of heavens holy shit, hot and spicy guy! I was certainly attracted, like Janet Jackson’s “…moth to a flame…” vision. Not sure if it was the wine kicking in or something else, I disappeared outdoors to take a breath of fresh air on the deck.

Much to my surprise, the hot and spicy one appeared and actually ventured my way for a conversation starter. To say he “had me from hello” is an understatement. He actually got me by asking if I had children and what their names were. Not how old they were, not their ages, but their names. Quite different already! Scoring brownie points with me and not even realizing it. As we talked a little more, it was as if everyone else disappeared. I know there were a lot of people there, but somehow they blank from my memory even to this day and it was as if the two of us were dancing a silhouette of circles, in conversation and comfort never experienced. Then, out of the blue, I remembered the 50th Birthday party. SHIT! I felt like Cinderella having to leave the ball: my chariot was going to turn into a pumpkin and I had truly somewhere I needed to be. But, I did leave my glass slipper: aka my phone number. As I drove away, I sent a quick text: “if you call, I will answer.” Surely this guy gets all kinds of numbers and I wanted him to know, I was really interested, just had a previous engagement to attend.

Once at Mike’s place, I enjoyed running into really old friends from college days 20 years before. Mike is the spouse of my ex-husbands sorority girl thing in college. I hadn’t seen any of them since my divorce and to say some of the conversations were awkward is yet another understatement for the night. But, the “…it’s a small world after all…” is a truth separated by only six degrees cannot ring truer than the Liberty Bell! As many of us caught up over the 15 years plus and many miles apart since college days, we shared a few drinks poolside and lots of laughs! By nearly two o’clock I was driving a drunken college mate to his place as a pseudo taxi and crashing in my bed, dreaming of the hot and spicy one I had met earlier that evening.

After the three day rule, he called. Our first conversation lasted more than an hour and flowed just as smoothly as waters in a calm stream. He was just as easy to talk to as that first encounter, even politely asking the appropriate time to call, since he knew I was a single mom and the kids were with me during the week of both school and work. He asked me out for Saturday and I accepted. We talked a few other times prior and I truly felt a connection unlike before. I was more than excited for this date. I had seen him, talked to him, felt something so different and just knew the date was going to be a good one; no idea it would turn out to be a great one! (Oh, stepping forward just a bit!)

Saturday morning arrived and I had several mandatory fun time appointments…aka work functions to attend. Duty called prior to play. So, I filled my void with both work and sprinkled in some time to catch my college team score at Best Buy. While cruising the aisle at my local Best Buy, I got a “bling” notice: text message of half time score from the hot and spicy one. Get out!! Gold Star moment! This guy just sent me the half time report of “my team”! Without a doubt, I knew the evening was getting off to a great start! I picked up a nice bottle of wine and headed to meet him at his place, promising only to ring the doorbell, but prepared just in case he invited me in. which, he did. We shared some wine and chatted with a few other folks there to watch the sunset on the horizon before dinner. As others prepared on their way out, we decided to take my SUV for dinner, since I had accidentally “blocked” him in when I parked. Believe it or not, that’s a control issue for me and no one usually drives my car. But, for whatever reason, I let go of control and let him drive the others to their destination in my SUV. As we drove his friends to their destination, he slid his hand on mine. I cannot tell you of how I felt, only to know that my night was freakin’ awesome already and it had just begun! There was a sort of electric calm in his touch. I felt as if I was the dog riding shot-gun, tail wagging and tongue hanging out in the wind…for real!

Once at the restaurant for dinner, I felt so far away from this guy even though the table was a small, intimate setting for two nestled away from the crowd. As I sat across from him, I seemed more distant but truly wanted to get closer. I asked if I could sit beside him and he agreed. We enjoyed our wine, great food and just really flowing through conversation like it was water flowing from the mountain tops, a constant steady stream with ease. After dinner and the night being young, despite my plan( b) of escape, I wanted time to stand still. There was some sort of magical chemistry and connection that I cannot explain. So, we decided to sit at the beach on a blanket and watch the storm roll in just North. It was shaping up to be the best first date of my life! It might have been the longest too…as I didn’t leave until the next day-oh, moving forward a bit too fast.

Read what you want to into it, but without a doubt it was truly a GREAT date!! And, one I will treasure and think of probably for a long time to come, possibly the rest of my life! My thoughts of the day were simple: what am I going to do for fun today? Not try to be in control, but let life happen! Wow! Was I ever amazed-the stars and all were aligned just right! Here I was sharing the night with a hot and spicy guy who not only was rocking my world, but touching every sense out there: mind, body and soul! Lucky me!!

The next morning I woke to find myself having to get “back to life, back to reality”-another song excerpt from those good ol’ eighty days! I was picking my kids up just after 2pm and had to resume the mommy role of responsibility. But, damn, did I have a good night or what? I know life isn’t supposed to be fairy tale, but this was as close to perfect as I could have imagined without even trying! Filled with gold stars, blue diamonds twinkling in the night sky, and d) all of the above! Wow! All I can say is that without a doubt, this date was what dreams are made of! It was not only the best first date…it was the longest! Great date number one had happened naturally and it was so much better than I ever could have imagined or planned out.