I thought I was on hiatus....

Ok, so even though I went out with Dean I considered myself to be on hiatus from dating. Yeah well, so much for that. A couple weeks ago I received an email from another previously viewed online fella. Y'all I'm not even ON any of the dating sites currently. The fellas are coming out of the woodwork.....gahhhh.

Let's call this one "Will". Yeah, I'm totally giving them aliases because I want to protect the not-so-innocent for some reason. All I need is one of these yahoos throwing a "defamation of character" suit on me. And for the record (Your Honor), I don't think ALL of them are yahoos and I'm very hopeful that one day I'll find one who is a complete anti-yahoo.

Alrighty, back to Will. Here's why I was/am intrigued...he's from Tennessee and I luuuuuv me a southern fella; he's a little younger than me (he's 39 & I'll be 43 verrrry soon); he's about to retire from the military (20 year career) so he's gonna have some free time to dote on me (hehe); he has hair (I like hair but we'll discuss HIS hair later); he's tall enough (6'...i like tall. Hmmm....ok that's enough for now. Now, lemme just say that these are preferences for me....not must haves. I'm sure there are plenty of short, bald fellas out there that aren't angry that they quit growing or lost their hair but I just ain't got the energy to weed through 'em.

Now y'all know that I live in a ski town. I'm not that far from a major city though. I thought it was just good thinking when I started the online dating to "cast my net" a little farther by looking in the metro area. What I've come to realize is that while it makes sense for ME because I'm swimming in a shallow (and somewhat murky) little pond the fellas in the big metro pond are the rejects that everyone has thrown back. You see?? I've never had any luck with the metro area and I don't even KNOW how many times I've heard "you live so farrrrrrr awaaaayyyyy". Um, yeah no farther than my profile says you goob.

The point to all this geography is that Will does not live in my nearby metropolis....he lives in another state. Yep. It's about a 3 hour drive from him to me. That would be a 3 hour drive that I have no intention of making. Now sweet Will has already made it very clear that he is willing to do the brunt of the driving because it's just easier for him and his schedule. (He works 4 days and is off 5. Or something fabulous like that). Plus he appreciates the fact that I have my kids full-time and I work a lot.

So we've seen each others photos and I feel confident that I will recognize him. He is telling me how very excited he is to meet me and how he's a little nervous. He's asked me if I'm nervous and I honestly tell him "No". This is not my first rodeo y'all. Sweet Will is new to the online dating. He still has high hopes. Bless his heart. j/k....hehe

We meet at my fave Happy Hour spot where the apps and martinis are 2 for 1. (Yay!!) Indeed he does look like his pictures. I forgot to mention that while yes, he is younger than me, I believe he looks older. (Even in the photos). Not MUCH older, but older. Just say'n. We've talked on the phone at length and we've texted quite a bit. Since my last date was such a dud I was reminded of the importance of the "phone audition". Will had passed the audition. He has a pleasant southern accent and he's not afraid to laugh....a good thing. In person he seemed a tad bit nervous but he wasn't sweating bullets (unappealing). He had a beer and I dove right into a martini. :-D

He was hungry and I was concerned about downing the delicious martini too fast and without ample food in my belly so we ordered some dinner. He was very up front with the bartender to make sure we were on one tab. (Not in an obnoxious way though). During dinner (we sat at the bar the whole time) I exchanged a little banter (I love that word!!!) with the bartender....a cute, young local fave of mine. Will seemed to be entertained by me and I was not bored but I wasn't really charmed either. He was VERY gentleman-ly, opening doors, picking up the tab, etc etc but I just wasn't feeling it. I wasn't entirely NOT feeling it though. Weird. I've had dates where I've looked across the table and said to myself "I will never be kissing him". It wasn't like that with Will. I think part of the problem is his hair. (Here we go with the hair). Since he's in the military, he has a total Gomer Pyle 'do. Ugh. I hate it. Haaaaaaaaaaate it. I wish he was wearing a hat. I'm not good at visualizing something different.

So we walk around town and then we go get coffee (his idea). He's being sweet and nice and offering his arm to me because the sidewalks were especially icy and slippery and I had on my cute boots instead of my functional boots cuz it was date night and all. We like a lot of the same music....went to a lot of the same concerts back in the day so that's pretty funny. He has a couple of tattoos and they're not entirely lame. He showed me one of them and it was pretty cool. The other one is the big orange "T" for Tennessee. I don't "get" that but whatever. The one I saw has skulls and stuff...pretty cool. Oh! I bet y'all are wondering where that tattoo is, aren't you???? Yeah well idk if I'll tell you. lol and j/k It's on his arm. He rolled his sleeve up and showed me because the tatts were a segment of the phone audition. hehe

Ok, let's wrap this date up. I walk him back to his big ass yellow truck. Jeez louise y'all that thing is ugly. I asked him if he was pleased with his color choice and he did admit that he wasn't really. We stood in the cold chatting for a few minutes and I was ready to walk home and get my ass in bed. (He asked about getting me home but I declined that offer). So we're chattin and freezin and I say "gotta go....." and I lean in and give him a nice little kiss on the lips. That's it....a quick kiss....and I was off.

He was driving back home. Can you believe?? He drove six hours (roundtrip) to take me to dinner and coffee?!?! I told him to text me when he got home even though I would be asleep. He said of course he would and asked me to text him when I was home safely too. I did exactly that. He didn't respond and that's a-ok because I knew he was driving. The next morning I woke up to a love-fest of texts. Here ya go:

Hey baby...lol, did I just say that? I am home now...easy drive. Alex, I had a blast and thank you for everything. I wish the night could've lasted a lot longer and I could have stayed...next time I will and I will get there much earlier...I don't want to make this too long so I am going to end by saying this...i simply love your personality and how warm you are..i was captivated and it doesn't matter if it's a 3 hour drive or 3000 miles I would drive it to see you. Sleep well, good night...i will talk with you tomorrow. :-)

Wow. Really sweet and all but a liiiiittttle overwhelming. I forgot to mention the fact that he said several times while we were walking around town, "I could live here". HUH?? WHAT???? Yikes. He's talking about when he retires from the military that he could live HERE...in MY town. He retires March 31st. OMG....slow down big fella. I'm the one sweating bullets now.

He has a lot of good qualities and I bet he would be reallllllllly sweet to me.....but.........I just don't feel it. That magical, mystical "it". Whatever "it" is. I'm not feeling it. Should I give him a little time? Maybe I just need to hang out with him some more. ??? I'm afraid if I do that though then he's gonna reallllllly wanna move forward, and FAST. **sigh**