“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.