I have more horrendous dating tales for you my friends!
Story one: my sweet dad wanted to introduce me to a man he'd met. "He's perfect for you! He graduated from..." Harvard/Yale/Some Ivy I don't remember nor care about "and he has a masters from..." insert another Ivy. "He's tall and he's blond and he's Christian, too." At this point my eyes feel shifty and I start to think, what's the catch? We all know that's just too good to be true.
The plan was to meet at the new Cafe Maud. There's another location in town. Everything was all set up, dinner time and address in an e-mail.
I arrive a minute or two late. The clock keeps ticking. Twenty minutes go by. I receive an text message, "I'm so sorry. I went to the wrong Cafe Maud. I'll be there as soon as I can!"
Twenty five minutes go by: "I'm trying to find parking!"
Finally he walks in: frantic, sweating and out of breath. I felt embarrassed for him! "I'm so sorry, this usually isn't like me." Well, for a person who doesn't know you, this is a great first impression!
Thankfully dinner went okay, but much to dad's sadness I decided not to go on a second date with mister-forty-five-minutes-late-and-scattered.
Story two: I'm meeting for a first "coffee date," because let's face it, who wants to sit through a whole dinner with someone you don't really know yet?
We're meeting at Starbucks. "Where is it?" He asks me. Use a smart phone for the love of Minneapolis! I proceed to give him explicit directions. About five minutes before we're supposed to meet I receive a text message, "I am so sorry Katie, I am going to be fifteen minutes late." Off to a wonderful start!
I get into Starbucks, order my roobois tea and sit comfortably in one of the arm chairs. And wait. Fifteen minutes later he walks in. I go to shake his hand and he ignores it, "oh no, no" he says and engulfs me in a giant, uncomfortable bear hug. Did I mention that man is about twice my size? It was awkward to say the least!
Thankfully the conversation went better. Everything got more exciting when two men walked in and I realized they were black nationalists. I couldn't let my curiosity go unanswered so I walked up to them and asked if they were missionaries. "Hello sister" the younger man smiled at me, "we aren't missionaries, but we are on a mission of sorts. Have you heard of the Nation of Islam?" I nodded and returned to my seat.
The conversation lagged on, and out of nowhere he looks me right into the eyes and says "I always wanted to wait until I was married, and I just have to be honest, I didn't have sex until I was twenty-three."
I nearly choked on my tea. Well, I thought I had heard it all on a first date, but this one takes the cake. First off, this was completely out of the blue and off topic. Second of all, why on earth did he feel the need to tell me this information? It's not necessary, it's not attractive and well, it's totally inappropriate.
It got late and I needed to escape so we parted and as I walked out the door he said, "can I see you again? I hope to see you again!" I looked back, smiled and said, "let me think about it. I need to pray about it."
Now, don't get me wrong, I have grace for both these men, but in the end that connection/spark/energy that needs to be there wasn't. I'm willing to forgive most blunders, but these two stories were too good not to blog about! Maybe this is why I'm feeling like a little break from all the madness!
