The Set-up

I've noticed that married people take a great interest in trying to get their single friends paired off. It's like they've joined a cult and their main purpose is getting others to follow suit. Right?? My dear (and married) friend Vanessa only has my best interests at heart, I’m sure. Apparently she’s not satisfied with any of the guys I meet on my own (usually younger men). She’s always promoting some way for me to meet new guys, usually online dating sites like match.com or eharmony.com. She always has success stories to use as examples and support her cause. I’ve joked with her that she should get a job in marketing for a dating service – she’d do well! So I wasn’t terribly surprised to get a very enthusiastic voice mail from her one day, claiming that she knew a guy who I HAD to meet. Turned out he is a “hot dad” who she knows from her day care center. She said I need to meet an older, established guy who is “domesticated.” I was skeptical from the get-go, not only because he has kids but because he lives in the ‘burbs. So far removed from my cosmopolitan, big-city lifestyle, right? Ha. I convinced myself I wouldn’t like him or have anything in common with him. I told myself he was probably a Bible-beating Bush-supporting right-winger. At least I set my expectations to zero – not a bad idea when it comes to blind dates, based on my prior experience.

She told Hot Dad about me and gave him my number. He called, we had a good conversation, and we made plans to go out this Saturday (last night). He showed up at my door at 8:30 p.m. and the first thing I thought was “he’s really cute!” The second thought was “he’s kind of short.” But, the cuteness made up for his lack of height. We walked from my place to a nearby restaurant and had a nice dinner, then moved on to a microbrewery place and had some beers (just one for me, low-tolerance and small bladder girl). We walked back to my apartment and I invited him in for dessert. No, really. I had baked a pear cobbler earlier in the day. Talk about domesticated. Anyway, he was definitely interested in the dessert. Maybe he thought I had something else in mind?? He ended up staying and hanging out till about 2 a.m. Just talking, I swear. He gave me a hug goodbye and said something about wanting to take me out again. He didn’t say “I’ll call you” which nearly always means they won’t, so maybe that’s a good sign? Who knows. If it turns out that this was just a one time thing, I’m satisfied that it was a nice evening. And if he does want to go out again, that’s totally cool with me. After all, I learned he is not into church and he’s not a right-winger. Meaning, this guy’s got potential!