Best First Date EVER!!!!!!!

So I'd been doing the online dating thing for a while when I set up a date with Best First Date Ever. He had a great sense of humor and didn't seem to mind that my cousins kept disturbing me while I was on the phone with him. We met on a Sunday afternoon at a cute restaurant near the church where I was working at the time. I recognized him in his car as soon as he drove up, so we shook hands in the parking lot. I had to apologize because I'd just put lotion on my hands, so he thanked me for sharing it with him. See what I mean? Great sense of humor!

We go inside the sunny restaurant and proceed to enjoy hours of great conversation, talking about architecture, philosophy, religion, and family. We both laughed a lot, and he was definitely attractive. After we just couldn't sit at the table anymore, he asked if I wanted to grab a coffee at the shop across the street. Absolutely! So off we went, for more discussion and more laughing. I had to meet some friends for dinner that night, so I kept checking the clock because I didn't want to keep them waiting. "You have to leave?" he said. I said yeah, unfortunately, but I'd mentioned a museum exhibit I thought he'd enjoy, and he seemed open to the idea of getting together later in the week, so he said he'd call me. Perfect! We'd just spent four and a half hours together, laughing and having a great time. I was pumped about seeing him again.

When he didn't call by Wednesday, I decided to send a short message to him, via the online dating service. I decided to opt for non-threatening and wrote something like, "It was great meeting you last week. I haven't laughed so much with someone I'd only just met!" It was true without condemning. I thought. He wrote back and said he wasn't sure about meeting up on Friday because he might have a "work thing," but he'd call me that day. I'm not a fan of setting up dates mere hours before getting together, but I thought, well, "work things" happen.

But then I found out about a concert that Friday night, which I attended with a friend, and Best First Date Ever texted me to say he'd call when his "work thing" was done. So, LIKE AN IDIOT, I kept my cell phone right next to me on vibrate the whole time. Guess who never ever called me again.

So I didn't text, didn't call, didn't send a message to him, either. A month--ONE FULL MONTH--later, he sends me a message saying he remembered what a great time we had when we met, and maybe we could get together sometime. I was skeptical, but I thought, alright, it WAS the Best First Date Ever, and maybe he's just had other things going on in his life. Understandable. So I wrote him back and said sure. We e-mailed and called back-and-forth for weeks, trying to figure out a time to meet, between him being out of town, then me being out of town. Finally, we had a date for drinks on a Friday night and said he'd call to make further plans. Great! So I kept my Friday night cleared for him, which was a bad idea because he called to say something came up and he wouldn't be able to meet that night. "SHOCKING," I said, right into the phone. But then he said, "Would you like to see U23D tomorrow night instead?" "Sure!" I said, happily regaining my voice. He said he'd call the next day to make definite plans.

So again, I spend Saturday carrying around my phone, waiting for him to call. Waiting and waiting. By 5:00, I decide that this isn't going to happen. So I've lost yet another night of fun. I checked my Facebook mail, and Best First Date Ever had sent a message. Apparently, his BROTHER had shown up unexpectedly, needed some help, wouldn't be able to take me out, but let's do it some other time! I didn't fall for that story one more time.

So that's the story of the Best First Date Ever and the two months that followed. At some point after the lame Facebook message, he quietly un-friended me. As it should be.

I hear you never get a second chance to make a first impression. In this case, thank GOD.