Bloom Where You're Planted

One evening, as a 19-year-old college student, I met a guy. We spoke very briefly, he asked me for my number, then shortly thereafter called to ask me on a date. He picked me up and we went back to his house, where we made dinner. While on the date I found out that he was 28. He knew I was 19 when he asked me out. That's a little more of an age gap than I'm comfortable with. After dinner we re-potted his aloe vera plants. He had a lot of aloe vera plants.

Why Did I Have to Keep Telling the Truth?!

Guest Blogger!
It's not a date, but definitely one for the books.

My roommate came home from work for lunch. On her way out of the parking lot she saw a short man running towards the building she works in. Upon arrival back at work, this man approached her. Walking up to her desk he initiated a lengthy conversation.

He asked her a variety of strange questions, ranging from what her job was to whether or not she served a mission. She did not serve a mission, but he proceeded to ask her about her affiliation with the LDS church. He asked her how many children she had, she responded that she isn't married. He then asked her if she had a boyfriend and "like an idiot, I said no." He asked her how long it has been since she's had a boyfriend, "again, like an idiot, I answered honestly. It had been years." He was shocked.

He asked her if she saw him running earlier, which she had. He proceeded to tell her that he doesn't forget someone that beautiful, he came by several months earlier but was too shy to talk to her then. He told her she looks like someone he knew who is really beautiful, he told her he doesn't forget a beautiful face. He asked where she was from, she returned the question, he's from Peru. He took her business card and told her he said he was going to call, acted like he was going to call her then leave. Unfortunately, he didn't leave. He proceeded to ask about her brothers and sisters, and if they served missions. Her brother went to Paraguay, he said he hoped they could speak Spanish together sometime. At this point she emailed her office neighbor asking her to call her to call because this guy kept talking to her. She was sitting there sweating trying to get out of it.

He then asked what her undergrad major was, which she told him was public relations. His response was, "Oh that's really good, you know why? (huge smile) Because you're really beautiful and you need to be really beautiful to be in public relations." He then asked how many children she wanted, 12? 5? 12? She wasn't answering his questions anymore, simply answering with "I don't know." At this point she decided to fake deliver something, picked up a piece of paper. When she walked around her desk, he gushed about how nice it was to meet her. He said he was so grateful to meet her finally. He shook her hand and bowed while shaking. She walked away and locked herself in her boss's office for 10 minutes. When she came out he was down the hall and luckily he continued to walk down the hall then downstairs.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

I've mentioned before that I am trying online dating. I have been honestly surprised this week at the lack of viable options on the two dating sites I am trying. Here are some examples of things some men think are a good idea to post as their profile picture. Any takers?

Them's Fightin Words

I went on a date with a guy I met online. I'm typically hesitant to do this because you never really know anything about your date until after you're there and for all you know, they could be a psycho. Luckily this guy wasn't a psycho. Not really. We ended up meeting at an IHOP for breakfast. He had to go to his Scottish dance class afterwards. Interesting, but not a deal-breaker. The date got really interesting when he told me he had been homeschooled. I have very little against being homeschooled or wanting to homeschool your children, except for the fact that I'm a public school teacher and I'm very invested in the work I do. I told him I think homeschooling is great as long as you know what you're doing and why you're doing it, which I honestly feel to be true. He proceeded to explain to me why public schools are corrupt and how they are brainwashing today's children, along with the ways in which public schools are failing in their efforts to educate children. I tried to remain calm as I explained the improvements in public education that I have seen and taken part in, along with trying to clarify some misconceptions he seems to have about public schooling. He wouldn't have it though. He felt he was right and is clearly convinced that public schools are bad. I cut that conversation short and shortly thereafter ended the date. I wonder why he hasn't called back?

A Classy Restaurant for a Classy Lady

I was asked on a date recently by a bold young man. He was very persistent in asking me out, I even tried to walk away several times but to no avail. Reluctantly I consented to a date. This guy was nice enough, but a little obnoxious and I knew soon after meeting him that it wouldn't be likely to go anywhere. My feelings were affirmed when later that week we were deciding where to meet and he said, "There's a nice Subway at..." A NICE Subway? The Subway in question just so happened to be in a strip mall near a downtown park that is known for homeless people and drug sales. That's what I'd call a classy eating establishment.

Once, Twice, Three Times a Break Up

I met this great guy who asked me out shortly after we were introduced. We ended up going out a few times, all of which were really fun. Then one day I called him to ask him out on a date, figuring we were to that point in our relationship. Well, when I called he dumped me. Too bad. I was sad but had recovered by the next morning. Four days later I got a text from him asking if he could come talk. He drove over super late to come and talk. As it turns out he had wanted to apologize for dumping me. I didn't think that's what people did in these situations. He didn't want to date again, he just wanted to say he was sorry. Glad we could cover AGAIN the fact that he doesn't want to date me. Real cool, man, real cool.

You've Got Mail

My sister had some friends who were telling her about this great single guy who they wanted to set up with someone nice. Since my sister is a thoughtful person, she mentioned me. She gave these friends my email, who gave it to this guy. When he emailed me I remembered that we had once worked together! We were able to make some fun connections and seemed to have plenty to talk about. We ended up emailing back and forth every few days for a few weeks. When I went back and looked, there were 16 emails total, definitely nothing serious. Then, one day I got an email from him. It took me a few minutes to realize that he was email breaking up with me. What?! Apparently he had taken the whole situation much more seriously than I had. I honestly wouldn't have cared if he had just never responded. Instead, he went through the pain of writing an emotive letter explaining how he felt. After being baffled that he had taken the time to do this, I had a good laugh, told him not to worry about it, and haven't heard from him since. Just for fun I thought I'd include some excerpts from his "break up" email. Enjoy!

"For the past couple weeks, I've been just struggling here, not knowing exactly what I've been feeling... I think each time I begin a letter back as of late, I'm just not feeling that this is the right direction for me.

I honestly can't explain except for I think I just know how things feel when there is a deep enough connection happening to continue forward and that I guess I have just been feeling that less and less... in the past I have taken relationships too far, when I've had that type of feeling towards the beginning, and I feel like the pain that resulted really could have been avoided.

I guess by now, I just know the way I'm feeling enough to realize that I probably shouldn't continue this, even though I haven't wanted to fully believe or trust myself on it, I feel like I really should, as a service to both us."