Dogs and Children

You've been spared the dating stories of late as I haven't really been dating; I've just been hanging out. But tonight was another example of how few good men are out there.

A man who's new to Tucson and just starting a business importing goods from Guatemala winked at me on Match the other night, and we emailed a little and talked. He asked if I'd like to have dinner and we agreed on tonight. Let me tell you why this was the first and last date with this guy.

We met at Blue Willow, a very casual, home-cooking, seat-yourself kinda restaurant that I like very much. As I got out of my car and walked toward the door, I looked around for him. I realized he was playing hide-and-seek with me around a car that was situated between us. (Really, this is something Boston would do. Boston's five years old. It's cute in a grandchild. It's not cute in a date.)

<Personal note to the mother of my grandson>
Jaci, Honey, promise me you'll teach Boston that he's got to grow up before he turns 55.
<Personal note off>

We went in and sat down on the patio. The hostess brought our drinks. We talked for a few minutes, then looked at the menu. The waitress came to take our orders and I deftly asked for separate checks. (I'm getting good at this! Yuck. I don't want to be good at this.) We chatted some more and then continued chatting over dinner. It was easy conversation, but I had determined for myself beforehand that there was going to be no sharing-of-life-stories, 'cause I really didn't care.

Dinner over, the waitress brought the checks, we chatted for a few more minutes, and then I drew the evening to a close. As we were walking to the register, he asked, "how tall are you anyway?" That's never a good sign. But I didn't care, remember?

<Sidebar on>
Regarding men and height: In online profiles, men routinely state the height they had achieved before turning 45. They ignore the fact that men start shrinking at 45. The guy I had dinner with Sunday? NOT 6'3". The guy I had dinner with tonight? NOT 5'10". (And we wonder why they all think this is 6"!)
<Sidebar off>

As we paid our respective bills, the cashier asked me how my dinner was. I said, "wonderful, as always." Then he paid, and as he walked away from the counter, he turned back to the cashier and said, "you didn't ask me how my dinner was." So she said, "how was your dinner?" He replied, "awful, I have indigestion." She said, "oh, I'm sorry." He responded, "I'm just kidding."

Geeeeeeezzzzzz. A sense of humor is never a bad thing. Inanity always is!

We parted without any talk of getting together again. I went straight to Rio Cafe. As I walked in the door, I made a tipping-the-glass motion towards Richard, who immediately grabbed a wine glass and poured my favorite Chardonnay into a glass for me. I sat and did my crossword puzzle, then requested the creme brulee. It had been a long day. But as I left Rio Cafe, my darling Eduardo (Richard's partner) said, "as soon as you quit looking for him, he'll turn up."

That's it. I quit. Really. You can quote me. And you can remind me the next time I start looking again.