Recently, I’ve been frozen. Very un-like me.

Not literally, but frozen.

Fourth Date – March 2nd, 2017 (again, notice the importance of the month this happened in)

“Fourth Date”

Since our minds were blown after an epic and bewildering Third Date, full of serendipitous moments I’ve never experienced in dating before, the least you could say was that I was most definitely looking forward to this next one.

In addition, I couldn’t believe he had even kept his word and given me his address since he NEVER invites women he’s dating over to his house.  As the single father of two teenagers, he keeps his home life private and secure for their sake.  I knew as a single mom of a teenager, also, how special this invite was and I think we were both enjoying the surreal effects of our serendipity and wanted to keep it going.  We both agreed it was an ok move to make.

As I drove the half hour north to his gated neighborhood full of million dollar houses, I kept thinking to myself, “This is crazy….this is so weird…this is so cool…you’re about to meet his kids!…keep it together…keep it cool…”

He greets me with a hug and kiss in the driveway, both of us giddy and ready for the big reveal.

Did this guy REALLY have his Christmas tree up some 4 months after the holidays, too?!

We enter the great room and there it was.  Effing great.  OMG.
Shock and awe and something special.  We both stared and smiled and “Wow’ed” out loud that this was shared experience.

He smiled proudly.   I knew the feeling.

We moved on to the rest of the house as he gave me tour of every part of it.  The kitchen was magnificent.  The backyard faces a manmade lake.  His master bedroom suite was bigger than my entire apartment.  #ImNotMad

We head upstairs and introduces me to his daughter in her room, and his son who’d just arrived home from volleyball practice.  Awesome kids who were friendly and very polite to me.

We then said good night, retired to his suite and he locked the door for the first time, noting that was weird.  The smile on his face told me that it was ok, though.

We “watched” a movie on TV, mostly disrupted by amazing make-out sessions here and there on his SUPER comfy King-sized bed with cashmere blankets.

We laugh and joke and cuddle and kiss and then laugh and joke and cuddle and kiss.

There’s something so special about this man, and I felt 100% comfortable and dare say, loved, in his arms.  He wouldn’t let me go.

Several hours later, he remarked that he should get some sleep because he had early hours at the hospital in the morning.  I knew this amazing date had to end at some point.

He walked me out, but before I left I asked to snap a picture of the tree.  One more time.

 

Perfect.

“Third Date” – February 25th, 2017 (note the month, for importance later)

It was our third date. After an amazing First Date, and then an amazing Best-Date-Of-My-Life Second Date, I was stoked to see him again and keep the flow moving as we explored and got to know each other.

He picked me up and we went on our way to the Third Street Promenade by the ocean to do some walking around, talking, shopping…you name it. Something easy and chill after a long day at the hospital, including another surgery. He had said he didn’t mind what we did as long as we were together.

I was more than happy this was the plan – you can learn a lot about a guy when shopping, right?

We arrive, park and start strolling hand-in-hand down the outdoor Promenade – several blocks long of amazing stores, restaurants and street performers. He’s hysterical as always and we’re laughing and having fun.

He asks if there’s any particular stores I want to go in and I say, “Not really. Just having fun looking.”

He spots a Superdry, a trendy Asian clothing store, and we go inside. He had been to the one in Japan and loved their style. He asked what my favorite color was (cobalt blue) and we perused the store, eventually buying a coat for his teenage daughter. Very cool Dad!

We walk next door to Sunglass Hut and he asks me to tell him what frames look good on him or not. I LOVE shopping with guys who appreciate style and he is clearly one of them. We learn that our favorite pair of shades we both own are Gucci; a fact that we like nice things every now and then yet still remain super real, down-to-earth good people.

We head next door to Champs, where I tell him my son and I buy matching shoes every year. He loves that idea and suggests we buy matching shoes, too. He’s a BIG shoe fan and was rocking the brand new Kevin Durant’s in red to match his G-Star Raw sweatsuit. Clean. We window shop a few pairs. It’s too early for all that matchy stuff so I didn’t really press the issue but we just had fun looking around. He picked up a pair of Jordan’s and said he scored 40 points in one game wearing those. Swoon. He picked up another pair and recalled a sick alley-oop backwards dunk he made wearing those. Double swoon. Who is this guy?! A baller, which I later verified by finding his basketball league’s Facebook page that had many pics of him hooping it up, sans scrubs and wearing workout clothes and a jersey instead.

We stroll for another hour or so and most of the shops are closed so we’re just enjoying the window displays of Michael Kors, Hugo Boss (he says he used to model suits back in the day and promised he’ll dress to the nines on a date one day…I die right there because ummm…who doesn’t love a man in a suit?!), Tumi (he knows his luggage and gives me the rundown), Marbles the Brain Store (my son’s favorite), and more.

It’s getting late and so we finally head back to the car. We’re giddy and cute and he steals another kiss, as he’d been doing throughout the night. Shopping was so fun and it felt good to get out and move around for a bit. He’s very sweet and affectionate and I rated this shopping experience a huge success.

Now at this point I’m thinking to myself, what should we do? It’s about 11:30pm on a weeknight, he’s worked all day and is still on call and could get paged anytime. I know he must be exhausted.

Should I just have him drop me off? Should I suggest we drive to the ocean to watch the waves? Should I invite him over for a glass of wine if he’s up for it?

The rules of dating are always interesting and what I’ve learned is there really are no rules. You just have to go with the flow, know what you want and find someone on the same page.

We headed back towards my apartment and I asked him what he’d like to do.

“I never want our time together to end,” he said. “We have so much fun!”

I agreed and so I asked if he wanted to come in for a glass of wine.

He immediately said “Yes!”

As we looked for parking, it started to dawn on me – I had to tell him something before he got inside.

Now, this next part you might find shocking, if not a bit odd.

As I was straightening up my place before he picked me up earlier, I stopped and thought,

“Shoot. I have to tell him about this…but how?”

You see, in my living room, in the corner by the TV, stands my Christmas Tree. Yes, you heard me – my Christmas Tree! Lights, ornaments and everything. Still standing, shiny and bright, and oh-so-magnificent.

Now I know what you’re thinking…it’s almost March! Wth are you doing with your Christmas tree up still?!

Well, the truth is I freaking love it so much that I just don’t want to take it down! I went all out and had bought super cute ornaments and decorations. It has a theme and color and everything is matching and perfectly placed. It’s a piece of art and when it’s plugged in at night, I just fall in love with it all over again.

But, HOW was I going to break this news to my date without him thinking I was a total cuckoo-brain?!

We finally found a spot and as he pulled up next to the curb, there were some bushes that looked suspicious.  A random clump of green shrubs right by the street.

He looked and asked, “Hey, is that a Christmas tree? That’s weird…” His facial expression was very confused. I about died because if this wasn’t foreshadowing, I don’t know what was…

After we saw they were just green bushes, he parked and then I sheepishly said..

“Actually, there’s something I have to tell you before you come in…”

The look on his face became one of immediate suspicion. He froze in his seat. Oh geez. He must be thinking the worst.

“Speaking of Christmas trees….ummmm….I still have mine up.”

I smiled, proudly, and full of hope that he’d still want to come in.

I paused and without missing a beat, he looked at me and said, “Yeah, me too.”

I smiled harder.

“Wait, what?!” I asked, completely not expecting that response.

“Wait a minute….” he said, not really registering the statement I had just made yet. “Did you say you still have your Christmas Tree up???”

“Yeah!” I said. “Wait. Did you say you still have yours up, too?!”

“YES!!!” He laughed out loud. “I love it and won’t take it down!”

You can NOT make this stuff up, people.

“No way!” I exclaimed. “Are you being serious?!”

He was totally serious.

We both just sat there for a second in his parked BMW, full of bewilderment and then both of us shake our heads in disbelief that this is our life right now.

We’re smiling so hard and as we both got out of the car, we both say there’s no way this is true. We don’t believe it. We need to see it with our own eyes.

I mean, what are the freaking chances?!

We walked the block over to my building and as we approached my front door I told him,

“Ok. Wait right here. I’m going to go turn the tree lights on so you get the full affect!”

He said, “Well, of course! Please do.”

I struggled to get my key in the door to unlock it. Not only am I nervous about bringing him to my place for the first time, but he’s about to see my freaking Christmas Tree.

I feel the pressure and anticipation mounting.

I finally got my door unlocked and hurried over to plug in the lights. It was beautiful.

I opened the door and said,

“Ok! Come on in!” Again, filled with pride and anxious anticipation of real judgement.

He entered and lo and behold, there was my freaking Christmas tree, all lit up.

His face lit up about as bright as the tree and he immediately smiled.

“Wow! This is amazing! It’s beautiful. Can I take a picture???”

I laughed and immediately felt relieved. He of course could take a picture.

After a few snaps of the tree, we died laughing as he told me how worried he was that I had to “tell him something first.”

He joked that a bunch of thoughts ran through his head about what I could possibly be getting ready to say. He’s hilarious and thought perhaps I had a two-legged dog or a creepy neighbor who buys my groceries or a roommate that I hadn’t told him about yet. Lol!

But nope, my big headline I dropped was that I still had my Christmas tree up, a good four months longer than any normal person would have theirs up. Which apparently is exactly what is going on at his house, too.

So, guys, guess what Date Four is?

Me, invited over to his house, to see his Christmas tree. 🎄🙈😍

In my continued attempt to fill you guys in on the highlights of my dating life, I’ve realized that the best date of my life happened almost a year ago and I only shared it on Facebook.  My bad.  It’s the continuation of Scrubs…and there will be a few more posts to follow because we turned into a living Hollywood movie.  Definitely a rom-com, then drama, but always love.  My Facebook friends have never rooted for a guy like this one.  They LOVED him and hearing these updates.  Keep reading…

“Second Date” – February 2017

We finally made a second date happen! (To get caught up on the First Date, click HERE)

Getting to know someone who’s “on-call” at the hospital all the time is tricky, and after trying several times to make plans but he’d get paged and have to re-schedule, we finally found ourselves together again.

As we were enjoying our dinner and laughing at so much together like we did on our first date, the tavern we met at started to get more busy.

People started filling up the tables and booths next to us, the music got louder, friends all were gathering in groups. Eventually someone came over and handed us pens and pieces of paper.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s Trivia Night. We do it here every Monday. You guys should play!”

I smiled real big and looked at my date. I mean, that could be fun! Or awkward. He’s basically a stranger. Would he find this weird? Too much pressure?

The host of Trivia Night, a big jovial friendly fellow wearing a blue plaid flannel over an orange tshirt, got on the microphone and said he’s giving out a round of shots to the group with the best team name.

My competitive nature kicked into high gear.

I told my date that I used to play on a trivia team with my sister and her husband and we crushed it every week. It was really a lot of fun…

He smiled. He was down to play!

I immediately thought of the perfect team name for us: “Second Date.”

Pretty ballsy, considering I KNEW when this was read aloud people would find our table and look. But I didn’t care. He didn’t either. In fact, he LOVED IT.

He turned in our team sheet name and the host got on the mic a few minutes later.

He read the rules of the evening and then a few of the team’s names. I got anxiously excited as I knew he was about to approach our very real situation…

“Next up we have ‘Second date!’ Hold on,” he said. “Is ‘Second Date’ in the room and is this an actual second date???”

My date and I both raised our hands with such enthusiasm we looked like kindergartners shooting our hands up into the air like we had the answer to the question that no one else did.

He was practically sitting on the edge of his seat, and couldn’t wait to share the news.

Everyone, and I mean, EVERYONE in the whole place turned to look at us.

We both nodded and said, “Yep! Totally true! Only our second date!…”

People smiled, and I heard some “Awww’s!” The dudes gave him a knowing smile, and I instantly felt the support of the entire restaurant behind us, pulling for a great second date at Trivia Night.

In between Round 1 and Round 2, the host got on the mic.

“Well, I want this date to end well tonight…Best Team Name goes to ‘Second Date.’ You guys get a round of shots on me. I’m pulling for ya, my man.”

Hahaha! We won! My date and I gave each other a high-five.

He was so happy and so was I. But, to be honest, he was more proud. I could tell there was absolutely no one else he’d rather be with in that place than me.

We played and had the BEST time.  Our chemistry is RIDICULOUS and it’s the kind where we’ll just stare at each other for a few seconds too long, smiling awkwardly, then glancing away while blushing.  Like high schoolers, but grown-ass adults.  Cheese Factor on Level 10.

Some of the questions were impossibly hard and instead of feeling like playing trivia as a team was a terribly embarrassing idea on a date (ie – hey, let’s find out how dumb you are…in public!), we made the best of it and laughed our way through.  I mean, our sense of humor style is so similar and we’d be cracking up and feeding off each other’s one liners, adding quick wit and snarky remarks, entertaining the other via the pop culture in front of us.  Our groove was immensely sexy.

The host came over to us at one point and thanked us for being such good sports. We thanked him for the shots.

And I thanked my intuition to give a vascular specialist with a crazy hectic hospital schedule and a wicked sense of humor another shot, too.

Best second date ever.

Here are my thoughts on Love, Dating & Divorce:

The thing about us humans is that we’re all broken. Like strong, clear, drinking glasses that break, leaving sharp edges dangerous enough to cut other people. Some have small chips, while others have fallen from the shelf and have shattered onto the floor into several pieces.

Most of the stuff that breaks people happens in childhood or as a young adult, much too early to know we’re even made of glass let alone how to recognize our broken parts afterwards.

Other breaks happen throughout our adulthood and according to stats, over 50% of us have endured the tragic break of a divorce.

Single or not, we’re human. It’s impossible to go through life without somehow enduring some pain. On the opposite side of love and joy, it’s part of the human experience.

So as we’re single, we walk around this planet as adults, bumping into other broken glasses. Some of us stay clear of other glasses and sit our asses on the shelf. Others venture out of the cupboard and poke our heads out to look at the other glasses around us. And sometimes we find another glass we really like so we spend more time with it. Typically we see our reflection in certain glasses and are even more drawn towards these ones.

This is the interesting part.

Your glass might have a sharp edge, a jagged piece leftover from you being previously mishandled by a past lover. Or five. When you’re single and you get close to a new glass it’s dangerous territory. Unless you’ve taken the time to grab some water and sandpaper to smooth out those breaks from the past, you might have an adventurous road ahead.

Sometimes we’re blind to it because all we want is to be a perfect pair of two glasses, connected, functional, together.

Sooner or later two glasses touch, leaving the inevitable.

Maybe a slight prick of a sharp shard left on the glass. Or maybe it’s just a small cut. Or maybe a large gash that draws blood and causes even more damage.

In my journey of love, dating and relationships, I’ve learned two things:

1.) Anyone who’s made it past the 3rd grade has had their heart broken.

2.) Those who take the time to fix their glass the best they can after a break make the best partners.

“I met someone.”

Know what this is from?

Match.com’s latest marketing campaign.  There’s these cute commercials where they show scenarios of singles happily telling somebody (their grandma, their friend, their mom)….”I met someone.”

Imagine my shock when I decided to join, built my profile, started using the app, and then…I met someone.

We’ll call him “Scrubs.”

He works in Vascular Surgery (I had to Google that one) and has been at the same hospital here in LA for 17 years.  Divorced, three kids ages 19, 16 and 15.  He’s a full-time dad of the younger two.  His oldest daughter moved out recently.  He absolutely LOVES his kids to pieces and this is quoted in his Match.com profile.

We messaged back and forth on the app and then he gave me his number.  He immediately kept the conversation going and right away I saw this guy was different.  He asked such great questions – and ones that showed he wanted to actually get to KNOW me.

What a concept in dating!

Let’s take a quick pause for a moment…

For those of you who have been reading my dating adventures and single girl shenanigans, you may recall another man in scrubs who I’ve told you about in the past – The Doc.

For those who don’t know his backstory, I call this man my “One-Sided Soulmate” because as amazing as he was, and as well as how we two clicked and had gotten to know each other, he wasn’t ever looking for a long-term relationship.  This, ultimately, broke my heart, and there’s several very real and emotional blog posts about this medical hero here.

So right away, I think this new guy is different.  He’s actually looking for the same thing I am!

I was intrigued.

AND…

I was entertained.  He was funny and witty throughout the messages. Loved it!

That evening he was working late at the hospital and had a few mins to text.  I was home and I had mentioned it would be nice to hear his voice sometime soon.

(text from him)”Well, then you’ll probably be really happy I’m going to do something…”

And he calls.

Now, let’s pause for another moment.  For those of you not in the dating scene, I’m here to inform you that a real, legit phonecall where two humans exchange voices in conversation is rare.

With so many people dating online for casual fun and/or to play around (i.e. Tinder, etc) it’s unique when two people connect for something further than flirty texts and aimless words in messages.

Bonus points already.

Our first conversation was amazing.  First of all, he’s HYSTERICAL.

I mean, I was almost crying laughing over the funny stuff he was saying and truth-be-told, I was holding in my laughter a few times b/c I was not about to lose my shit on the phone with this guy and really let him hear how loud I can get when I’m REALLY laughing hard.  (Ask my son…he knows) I was also super nervous and that makes me laugh more.  Awkward.

We’re chatting a good bit and then I hear him get paged.  He asks for me to hang on a second…and then I hear him make a call to some nurse for some order for some patient for some test or something or other they need him to do.  The patient was on her way down to see him, so he had to go.

We smiled, said goodbye and hung up.

Oh boy, I liked him.

As I pictured him wearing scrubs, I wondered when we’d meet.  I already knew that was something I wanted.

A few hours later, around 9:30p, he texted me:

“Hey beautiful, what are you up to?”

Long story short, he had wanted to see me, and even though he was done at work he was still on-call but was wondering if I was free.

Now, let’s talk about another dating “no-no.”

Last minute planning.

Typically I hate that.  I’m a planner and I like to know what’s going on in advance.

But, here’s this guy who works long hours in a hospital, is a full-time dad and is asking me what I was doing (which was nothing, just chilling at home on a weeknight).

I threw my standard out the window and we made plans to meet.

Seize the day, baby!

Some quick 45-minutes later (thank God for the invention of dry shampoo), I pulled into the Mexican restaurant he had suggested we meet at.

It was Casa Vega, a popular spot in the Valley that has a dark, sexy atmosphere inside.

I beat him by a few mins and as he texted me that he was on his way, I got super nervous.

Another reason I knew this guy was special.  I hardly ever get nervous on first dates!

A few minutes pass and I see him walking toward the bench I was sitting on outside.

He’s so cute! What a smile…

And taller than me! (mentally raises hands to roof…I’m 5’10” and secretly rejoicing)

We do the awkward first greeting hug and we make awkward small chat as we enter and they seat us.

Now I’m extra nervous b/c that first impression was a great one.

We sit and he’s full of compliments – he tells me I’m beautiful and look great. He’s almost shocked and it’s the cutest thing to see him smile so big.  He was funny and had me laughing already, which somewhat put me at ease.

The next hour was spent sharing stories about things in life, him asking MORE great questions about my childhood and my siblings and their names and where I’ve traveled and just more about who I am.  I’m asking the same in return and as we get to know each other, it becomes more and more surreal.

It was easy.  We clicked right away.

I’ve been on dates before where I’m enjoying the other person’s company, but Scrubs was truly entertaining and so fun to be sitting there with, sipping on our margaritas as I picked nervously at my lobster quesadilla (we BOTH chose to order the same thing, btw, without the other person knowing that’s what we’d wanted…stay tuned for more unreal similarities).

It’s getting later (around 11:30p now) and people are leaving the restaurant.  All of a sudden he gets paged.

He reaches for his waist and pulls his pager out to look at it.

Like, a REAL PAGER!

My jaw must have dropped to the ground – I find it so fascinating that people still use pagers in 2017.  He tells me it’s fail-safe! That’s why.

He apologizes and gets out his phone to call the hospital.

I sit there, staring at this completely new situation, with a half-smile on my face and fascination in my eyes.

This dude is important.

I hear some medical talk that I don’t understand, and then him saying, “Ok…yep.  I’m on my way.  Ok….sure thing.  I’m on my way.”

At this point, scenes from “Grey’s Anatomy” come racing into my brain and I’m expecting him to jump up from the table, have me pay the check as he hops over the booth and exits left.

Well, folks, it ain’t Hollywood and he just hangs up the phone and sits there all calm, taking a sip of his cocktail. He’s also not an ER doctor so I suppose this is helpful here.
“Ummm….,” I stammer. “Do you need…to go?” I look concerned.

“Well they’re trying to interrupt my hot date.  That’s not cool,” he laughs.

He tells me it’s fine and reassures me he doesn’t have to leave that very moment.

He’s smiling and so cute and trying his best to not be annoyed that his hot date is literally going to have to come to an end soon.

We continue eating and conversation.  A few minutes later a guy from the valet outside comes around to our table with some car keys.

“Mercedes?” he asks.

Oh shoot.  That’s mine.  I guess it’d gotten so late they wanted to close and I hadn’t paid yet.

“Sorry!”

I motion for the keys and reach for my wallet.

Scrubs is quicker than me and graciously gives the guy money in exchange for my keys.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I exclaimed, but SUPER touched at the gesture.

“No, it’s ok. I’m happy to,” he says and I melt a little.

It’s the little things that I love.  Like being thoughtful here.  I parked in valet, it was my choice and would have totally paid it, but I could tell this guy was old-fashioned and a total gentleman.  Loved it!

We get the bill a bit later, finished our drinks and after he paid (again, I offered, he declined), we headed out.

He walked me to my car and as we got closer I was thinking two things:

1.  Is he going to kiss me goodnight?
2. Shouldn’t he be running to the hospital right now?!

I opened my door and threw my purse and jacket in.

He reaches to give me a hug…and a kiss.

First one, then two. Then a third.

Cute, quick, very sweet kisses.

We’re both smiling so hard right now and would win the award for “Best Successful First Date” if someone was handing out trophies.

We say goodbye and as I got in my car and started to drive home, I put my hand over my mouth to try and contain my excitement with this goofy grin on my face.

I had stopped at a stoplight and looked over – someone was trying to get my attention.

It was Scrubs!

He was in the lane next me, smiling through his window looking at me.

As my light turned green and I turned left, I smiled back and watched his shiny, black BMW drive out of sight.

Oh, boy.

I knew I was in a good kind of trouble, because, well…

I met someone.

 

 

It’s 2017 already.  Dang. Time has been flying by as I live my life here in the City of Angels.

I’m currently at the Spa.  Just had an amazing body scrub and oil massage, followed by a delicious lunch.  I have the day off of work so I decided to scrub away all the icky parts of 2016 and start anew.

Last night I went out with some friends and one of them (a faithful male reader of this blog) asked when I was going to write about more shenanigans.

Instead of writing all the stories that’ve happened over the past 6 months or so (there are TOO MANY to share!), I decided to just give you a re-cap on someone you may recall from quite awhile ago…

Here ya go, my faithful readers!

Harvard.

Remember “Mr. Harvard?” If not, you should click here to get caught up or, for a re-fresh on the backstory.  It’s a good one.

He’s a match of mine from eHarmony.  An engineer who I thought was the best suited match and most compatible person for me I’ve met in years, but who wasn’t ready for a serious relationship when we met and had just moved to LA and wanted to “window shop.”  Since I’m looking for more than a short term lease, I had to let him go.

Well sometimes life has to happen and time has to pass us by before we recognize the reason, season or lifetime explanation of why we were meant to meet someone.

I think my meeting Harvard became clear over the holidays.

Let me catch you up first…

Although I don’t think we’re a great match now (or maybe ever?), we re-connected several months back.  After going our separate ways back in early 2016, we hadn’t really spoken.

But I ended up really missing him, so I reached out a few months back just to touch base.
He was glad to hear from me!

We ended up meeting for drinks to catch up.

We sat on a couch by a fire pit that overlooked the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica at the swanky Loews Hotel.  Just my vibe.

As the lights of the Santa Monica pier danced in the background, I wrapped myself up in a blanket and tried not to get wrapped up in his enormous smile and charming yet awkward personality. It was SO good to see him.  We still had crazy chemistry.

He was seeing someone casually, he said, but I could tell he wasn’t into her.

He was interested in my story, of course, and told him I was dating a model, but nothing serious there.

He about flipped his lid and demanded to see pics of this so-called “model.”

I thought his jealousy and laughter and authentic shock was cute.  He clearly wanted to see where/how he measured up.

Guys and their ego, I tell you….smh.  I had no intention of shoving this guy’s pics in Harvard’s face.  That would be cold.

But, like a dog with a bone, and after much pushing and persuading from Harvard, I finally relented and showed him a few pics of the guy I had been seeing casually for several months.

He saw pics of who I call “Model Mayhem” – his jaw hit the ground.

Some pics were from us in Vegas for a fun weekend getaway – we were dressed to the nine’s one night.  EVERYONE stared at us when we went out that night and it was fun to have so many people look at us, wondering who we were.  I have GREAT pics. 🙂

Bad idea for Harvard, but he asked for it.
(Guys – don’t ever do this to yourselves.  Just don’t.)

I felt awkward, of course, and immediately Harvard felt inadequate.   Since we had been hinting around the fact Harvard and I had dated and admittedly had something serious, even if for a brief period of time, I could tell this threw him off.

I re-assured him that if I had to choose between Model Mayhem and him, I’d choose him every time. (True, actually).

While Model Mayhem is successful, ambitious and extremely handsome, I still think I’m better suited with someone like Harvard – super intelligent, hard-working, creative and good-looking with an amazing smile.

He didn’t believe me, but whatever.

The flirting continued and he eventually let it go as the fire crackled in front of us.

We caught up on what’s going on with work and our pursuits of advancing our careers here in Los Angeles – something we both have very much in common.  The quintessential “Power Couple” I envision for my future is in Harvard and me.

His phone buzzed and a former classmate from Harvard came across the street to meet us for a quick few minutes.  It was fun to meet her, and see him interact with someone who knew him back in the day.

After she left, we continued to chat, and then later another friend of his stopped by (popular guy, popular city).  This time a Yale Business School graduate and financial analyst.  He was a cool dude, too, and we all had a great time chatting about LA, music and life in our 30s.

I do love the smart peeps.  Education is important to me in a match.  Although you might have a stereotype in your mind of what these people look like, they are hardly nerds.  Everyone is sexy, cultured, smart.  I dig it, Ivy Leaguers.

Fast forward another hour and two more rounds of drinks later, the night was still young and Harvard invited us both back to his place nearby to crack open a bottle of Patron.

I was digging Harvard, so I happily went with the extended plans for the evening ahead.

Fast forward to about three rounds of shots later (OMG….why?!), I was in no condition to drive and so I spent the night.
Shenanigans.

Time for breakfast.

We walked to his new favorite breakfast spot, hungover and still punch drunk on the crazy chemistry we clearly both have.

I had never been to this place, but it looked perfect.

I then had a pretty good chuckle when the hostess greeted us at the door and said, “Hey guys! Welcome back.”

As she seated us, I just smiled, recognizing she thought I was another woman he’d brought there before, and said, “No….lol.  Not me.  Just him.  I’m new.” (wink)

She felt SO embarrassed and left us quickly with two menus and awkwardness.

I looked at Harvard, who was looking for my reaction.

I smiled coyly and said, “Such a shame the other one wasn’t memorable enough….”

He laughed and we took our water glasses and said “Cheers.”

Conversation continued over our food and we danced around the idea of “us” for the the next hour.

His hesitancy was real, for a couple reasons, including that his ex-wife of 7 years ago recently wanted to take some of his money for an investment he had made money on during their marriage many years prior.  His lawyer said he would have to pay her.

Definitely gun-shy and obviously torn between trusting women and otherwise just throwing his hands in the air.

Besides, I was dating a model.

“What could you possibly see in me?”

I just rolled my eyes and took another bite of food.

Well, since I’m never one to have to convince someone that I like them when I’ve said it til I’m blue in the face, I let it go.

We still ended breakfast on a good note.

As we went our separate ways, he told me I look good with no makeup on (can we just pause for the fact that I went out in public with NO MAKEUP ON the next morning in Los Angeles?! I’m wifey material just for that simple fact, right?? Actually, Harvard makes me feel so comfortable that I didn’t think much about it when leaving the house that morning.)

I told him to keep in touch, but knew in my heart it wasn’t meant to be.  I want a confident man who’s not afraid to fight for me and let his feelings be known.  I know Harvard likes me, but he’s too scared. Or, I’m simply not “The One.” Either way…

I’m not a damsel in distress, but dang, can someone PLEASE climb up the tower and rescue a princess in this lifetime? Guys in Los Angeles barely make the effort to start a conversation after they’ve swiped right, much less scale a turret.

Ok, you’re caught up on the backstory.  Which brings us to the “WHY” of why I think Harvard ever came into my life at all.

Fast forward a few more months and my son, 15, is discussing with me ideas about where he wants to go to college.

We’ve visited a few campuses in California, but guess where he has his sights set on?

Yep.

Harvard.

Now that’s a hard school to get into! My son has top grades and is in honors classes and quite the little genius himself (Thank you, God, for such a blessing in this child), but what does it even take??? How do you actually get INTO Harvard??
As his mom, it’s my job to help prepare him for life as an adult.  I had to figure this one out.

It clicks for me.

Maybe I could get Harvard to talk to him!

I never have my son meet guys I’m dating because that’s only really appropriate once things are more serious and established.

But!

We weren’t dating any longer.

This was different.

My son is also older now and more than capable of taking this type of a meeting.

I had offered to buy Harvard coffee in exchange for talking to my son about the application process and any special insight he could give him as a Harvard alum.  He was thrilled that I asked and more than happy to help out.

And so over Christmas break, my son met Harvard.

They both really hit it off, and as Harvard shared more of his experience and journey, he also became inspired by my son’s ambitions to be one of the world’s next great leaders.

As I sat to the side of them, quietly listening while sipping my latte, the thought came to me that perhaps THIS was the reason why I had been introduced to Harvard in the first place.

That a year later, it perhaps wasn’t meant for him and I to be together romantically, but that a bond had grown strong enough in a friendship that he wanted to help shape the potential important future of my son.

And that, folks, is why I never try to burn bridges or hold grudges when things don’t work out with guys I’ve dated.

If there’s mutual respect from both parties, you just never know how things could progress in the future.

Who knows if my son will go to Harvard.  I’ll support him no matter what he decides and no matter what he aims for in life.

And who knows what will happen to me and Harvard (we did just have lunch, randomly, two days ago…I was in his hood so I text him ‘hello’ and he came to meet me.)

But I know in my heart that pivotal meetings like the one we had on Montana Ave on December 24th, 2016 between my son, myself and Harvard will stay with us forever.

And for that, I’m grateful.

Until next time, my friends…

Thanks so much for reading.  You rock.

Hugs xoxo

Online dating. 

Sigh. 

Actually, just dating in general (I do meet people in real life, too.)

Another sigh. 

I often flip flop between “Kill me now” and the above meme. 

There are sooo many stories in between these posts that I haven’t had a chance to share. A popular dating app, Plenty of Fish, got it right:

There are…

PLENTY

OF

FISH!

Particularly in Los Angeles, CA. 

It’s one of the reasons why I believe it’s been a challenge for me to find one and only one great match for me who’s looking for a monogamous, longterm relationship. 

There are so many choices!

On both sides of the coin. 

And I’m finding the number of people who want to just casually date and not commit is much larger than those looking to lock someone down from the pond.  

So while there are times I want to pull my hair out because another person lied, or another person flaked or another person and I hit it off but we’re better just in the friends category or another person tells me he’s married but so attracted to me…

I still hang in there. 

I still have hope. 

And I genuinely do enjoy my life, even if my relationship status on Facebook still says, “Single.”

He makes a plan for us to meet.

And of COURSE the wine bar where we shall meet at is on no other street than “Harvard St.” I chuckled out loud when he sent me the address.  Such a coincidence and also quite appropriate.

I’m literally and figuratively moving from one match to another, with a good break in between.

Luckily, my experience with Mr. Harvard was nice but I’m past it now.  By meeting up with other guys since we’ve stopped talking two months ago (for instance, Mr. Romeo last night, and another great person-who-shall-remain-nameless-because-he-reads-this-blog I had dinner with last weekend, etc), it’s helped me to realize what other things I’m really looking for in a match.

So, as I usually say and feel, we’ll see what happens.  It’s early with Mr. Romeo.  But we had a GREAT first date…

He arrived looking extra fancy and all dressed up.  He’s in a black suit situation with a bright red pocket handkerchief and black Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses.  I’m wearing a cute dress and I’m glad we match the level of effort from the other.  You never know what you’ll get in LA.

We walk towards each other on the street and hugged while saying hello.
It’s that awkward/exciting moment when you first meet someone IRL (aka “in real life”).  I’ve done this a million times in my dating life by now and it’s pretty much second hat at this point.  I still feel the slight butterflies each time, though.  It’s a fun experience and one of the best parts of dating is meeting such interesting and cool people to get to know, albeit for perhaps a short time.

He knows the owners of the wine bar – two female friends who opened up the spot a few years ago – and he introduces me to one right when we’re seated.

They prepare for us a smashing wine flight and cheese pairing board, full of delicious types of cheeses, nuts, dried fruit, a bit of homemade pasta salad.  It’s fun to discover together what we like and he’s a foodie, too, so I’m happy about that.

We sat there for almost 3 hours!

Laughing and talking and carrying on, asking each other questions that ranged from what our favorite Disney movies were to how we could create an app to solve some problem and then create additional revenue from it together.

He’s just as charming in person as his letters were, although now I get to see him in front of me and hear his AMAZINGLY charming deep voice that matches his slow and easy demeanor.  He’s like an old-fashioned soul that met up with the modern world – a nice balance.

It’s getting late and it’s a “school night” so I say I must get going.  I head to the restroom and come back to see him paying the bill.

I always offer to chip in and when I offered he looked at me almost concerned and said, “What? Oh, baby girl.  Not at all.  You haven’t been dealing with THOSE types, have you??”

I just smiled and said, “You’d be surprised. But I always offer.  Thank you.” I do love a gentleman and always appreciate a man who pays, especially if he invites me to something more than coffee for the first date.

He made sure we were on for our next date that upcoming Saturday – the Renaissance Faire.  We had talked about it a few times on the phone the week prior to meeting.

He said he was going as a pirate and that I had to find a pirate wench costume to match. I confirmed.  I was actually really, really looking forward to it. 🙂

Later that night, I smiled thinking about our date while I laid in bed and ordered a costume from Amazon to be delivered the next day.  This was something I’ve never done before (especially on just a second date?!), but heck, I’m game for adventure and shenanigans.

I was stoked…

As “Mr. Harvard” becomes a quick and distant memory and fades into the dark, other players on this stage of life are stepping into the spotlight. Auditions are currently being held…
And into the light comes a man who I’ll call Mr. Romeo, simply because of the way he’s been communicating with me so far online:

With actual WORDS! Multiple sentences! Long paragraphs, even.

A rare treat.

I’ll share excerpts below but first I must explain to you how TYPICAL communication goes on in the online dating space.

Boy sees girl’s profile. (And yes, “boys” can be in their 30s, 40s, even 50s).
He sends a message.
Usually it’s something along the lines of “Hey sexy” or “Hi beautiful. Howz your day” or my ultimate favorite: “hi.” Missing grammar and punctuation (and substance) and all.
Yes. That’s it. That’s the level of effort men usually put forth in their first message to a woman online.

Mind-blowing, I know. I understand the potential rejection, but am I really supposed to be intrigued by your simple message? It takes too much effort to string together a sentence or two? Noting something special you liked in my profile or pics? I never expect an essay but the guys completely stand out are the ones who write something extra. Big points.

Now, places like Tinder you expect this. Minimal effort in speaking is equal to the minimal effort it takes to make a profile:
Sync your profile with your Facebook, pull 1-5 pics and boom! You have a profile.

The people with SOME extra effort coursing through their bodies write a small bio, too.

Mine just has the following emojis: 💋🔥🏀🌴💟 Lost Angeles. Yay, Tinder!
So, par for the course. I don’t take Tinder seriously and as you may know, I’m using it mostly for research.
Then you have other dating sites like OKCupid or Plenty of Fish or eHarmony.
If you’re a new reader to my blog you’ll know that I try out many different sites, and stop, start or pause according to what’s going on with the auditions.
Right now I’m on Plenty of Fish (aka POF), Tinder and eHarmony.

It’s like the Goldilocks scale of online dating. Trying them all til you get one that’s juuuuust right.

For the reasons you can guess already by what I’ve shared in my communication preferences, you can imagine that eHarmony wins as far as receiving the more lengthy responses.
And in all my experiences with my eHarmony matches (they are selected for me through compatibility science and math formulas…I just can’t search their database), I’ve had pretty decent communication.

Most of them said more than “hi” but never went to the extent you’re about to get a taste of below!

To educate you a little further on the communication process on eHarmony (gee…do I work at a dating company, or what?), check this out.
eHarmony actually CREATED a multi step process to guide two matches through a lovely getting-to-know-you process. It’s called “Guided Communication” and starts you off with sending your match (or you receiving from them) 5 Quick Questions. A multiple choice kinda thing.
You exchange those suckers and then the next step is Makes or Breaks, a list of 10 things that you definitely want in a partner and 10 things that are deal breakers. Helpful.
Then it’s 3 open-ended questions called “Dig Deeper.” These are more tough. You have to actually think. Mr. Romeo sent me the freakin’ hardest questions!

1. Looking back at your life, describe one particular event that you wish you would have handled differently.
2. What was your longest relationship and why did it end?
3. What are 3 characteristics you have that I may find hard to deal with?
Well, GEEZ. That was hard! I definitely thought awhile before answering.

But I appreciated his real effort in getting to know me better so I answered them all and sent him back my answers and 3 similar questions that he answered.

Now we were at the final stage: Open Communication aka “eH Mail.”

This is where most other dating sites start you out but eH gets you there slower so you can bounce real quick if you come across too many red flags and don’t want to continue the conversation to email with a potential whack job.

So I send Mr. Romeo a nice, but brief, note that I’ve enjoyed getting to know him so far. I asked a few questions about something in his profile.

And this began the string of romantic and so well-written pieces of prose that I about lost my mind from anticipation each time a notification came through saying he’d written me.
Each note was like a book. Long, lengthy paragraphs. A BOOK compared to the nonsense of nothing’s the others would send me.

Out of respect for him, I won’t share our entire conversations. But outta respect for you, my faithful reader, I’m gonna give you some juicy stuff.

Well, more like romantical (my own word) sweet as honey, so good that Shakespeare is giving him the side eye cuz it’s that good kinda stuff.

Here’s some pieces of our exchanges:

“My Dearest (insert my name here),

The fire from your eyes seemed to greet me this morning and I would be lying if I did not admit that I have been carrying you with me as I go about my day. The inspiration that the look in your eyes alone can give has been breathtaking to behold. Thank you my young princess for adorning words of care and consideration for each word from you seems to warm my soul and leaves me wondering if these online connections can truly be real…”

“I am sitting here watching the Golden State Warriors game as I sip on a glass of pinot noir and I cannot help but think of your smile. I wonder how your laugh must lighten the load of a man and how your beautiful eyes must remove the burden of the world…your vivacious voice must sound like peace…”
Ok, ladies. Take a moment. Whew! (fans myself)

Gents. Take a note. Yes, you can watch the NBA Playoffs and still be Romeo.

Now. I’m not sure if every woman likes to receive such melt-worthy messages, but I’m gonna assume that the majority wouldn’t be mad if their man, or even a prospect of a man, came at them spitting this game.

With all this technology and devices and TV and entertainment and work and kids and life and cell phones and apps all around us 24/7, I think it’s an unbelievable gift to receive someone’s old school gesture of love letters.

There’s much more. He wrote me again yesterday another book, further answering my questions and in turn wanting to find out about how many siblings I have and what it was like to live on a farm, and telling me how amazing my parents must be to have raised such an amazing woman as myself.
I mean….
Game over.
Well, OK. Not so fast. I’m not dumb…lol. Not naive.

I knew this was so delicious to continue but I knew that I needed to hear his voice and move this to the phone. What if he sounds like Kermit or something?!

He doesn’t, thankfully, because after I expressed my desire that as much as I loved (LOVED) getting his well thought-out pieces of prose, we should exchange numbers.

He called me and we spoke and laughed and talked for 2 1/2 hours last night.

The next step is to meet IRL (in real life.) Next week sometime, at a wine bar he knows the owners of here in LA.

SO, folks. As I always say, I’m keeping an open mind. High hopes, low expectations. Who knows what will happen.

But in the meantime, I’m enjoying getting to know Mr. Romeo….Shakespeare’s protege.