I'd Like You To Meet My Friend(s)

I have had about a three week period of very little activity on the dating site, but I guess that is to be expected when I have visually cycled through every single male within the tri-state area that is on the same dating site as I am.  So used to the inactivity am I,  that some days I don't even bother to check to see if I have any new mail or not.  Pffffft. Just out of curiosity, and for want of some cheap entertainment, I logged on this morning to find not one, not two, but THREE emails from THREE MEN I have never heard from before.  Coincidentally, two of the men are from the same town, one-and-a-half hours away,  and one is from somewhere close to Fort Wayne.  All three are attractive, within my age criteria, and not-a-one of the three spoke to me in anything other than complete sentences.  This, along with the fact that it is Friday, gave me a hopeful little boost that perhaps, PERHAPS, I still may meet the man o' my dreams.  

Full of optimism, I quickly jotted off replies to the three before I left the house at 2:17 for work.   A little thing about me on the dating site:  I never make the first contact.  I'm not a shy little thing, nor am I timid.  I just prefer the man to initiate the contact.  That way I KNOW they're interested.  I'm old-fashioned like that.  One thing I have learned, though, is that for every four gentlemen that I reply to, I will only hear from two.  Why that is, I do not know.  It is what it is.  By lunch, I had an email from one of the gentleman.  True to form, I did not hear from the other two.  Just as well.....I was more attracted to this one, anyway.  Tall, dark, mysterious.......laughing eyes......YEAH.  Suffice it to say, I was pretty happy to see a reply from Mr. TD&H.  Oh, my.....he's giving me ♫ com-pli-ments ♪ ! He likes my pictures, and he thinks I'm funny, too! To paraphrase his email:  He knows this is pretty unusual, but he happens to be coming to Fort Wayne this weekend, and he'd love TO MEET ME!!!!!!!

"Tomorrow....tomorrow...what is going on tomorrow?", I wondered to myself.  Well, other than working til 3:30, really......NOTHING!  My daughter will be gone for the night, so, I guess, for a few hours, anyway, that makes me FREE.  I wasted no time replying that I would be happy to meet him tomorrow night.  


Well, it didn't take long to get slammed back into my dating reality once I got It a reply.  "I'm going to be in town visiting my sudo-sister."  **that took me by surprise.  I tried to decide if he was trying to say "pseudo" or "sumo" **  "I'm coming to Fort Wayne to help her to pick out a car and catch up."  


                                                  

"She's a real hoot, just like you.  I think you two would be great friends, so I thought you could join us".  So, in other words----"I'd like to ask you out on a car-lot-hopping-test-driving (you'd have to sit in the backseat, of course) date because I think you and my pseudo-sumo-sister would really dig one another and become fast friends."

I pondered that unusual invite for a few minutes.  Really let it soak in.  In the end, it came down to the fact that on a first date, I don't do well in groups.  My mind wandered back six years to a situation where I was "fixed-up" with the Podiatrist for the Chicago White Sox.  I know, right?  A doctor.  He had a World Series ring and eva' thin.  Money.  Notoriety. Did I say Podiatrist?  If things worked out, he could possibly fix my feet!  And, did I mention he was cute as HAY-ull?   

Unfortunately, I found out after driving from Fort Wayne to the Hancock Tower in Chicago to meet him, he dates with an entourage that included his attorney best friend, his daughter and her husband, and several other friends of his who would be meeting me for the first time, also.  I am outgoing, and I love people, but I hate being odd man out.  Although the friends and family were very kind to me, and I had a swell time eating at the Bard's Room prior to the White Sox game; but the fact remained that I didn't feel like I fit in with the group.  Long story short, the evening capped with me making a brazen, nail-biter of an un-planned escape from the 54th story of the Hancock Tower, so uncomfortable was I. I tell this story to few people, as it illustrates how I've let several apparent "great catches" slip through my hands. 





                                                

And so here I sit, on this drizzly, cold Friday wondering if I did the right thing.  Maybe I should give the whole "third wheel" thing another go. This time, if I'm uncomfortable, at least all I have is a fifteen minute drive home, instead of having to navigate my way out of a downtown Chicago skyscraper's parking garage and driving 160 miles home.  Does this mean I am anti-social?