I went on a date several weeks ago. It was pretty awesome. I've had over 30 of them, and I rarely use that word to describe a date. He was sweet, funny and romantic. I remember thinking, I could fall in love with this guy. We talked about everything under the sun. Nothing too threatening for the first date, but he was so easy to talk to. After a long string of bad dates, I was hopeful again. Since we met at a restaurant, we said our goodbyes at my car. It was a Tuesday night and we talked about getting together again that weekend. I smiled all the way home and relived every moment we spent together. When I got home, I didn't rush to the phone to call my girlfriends, nor did I post in on Facebook. I didn't want someone's insensitive comment to ruin the moment. Instead, I simply thanked God. I remember saying, I don’t know where this will lead, but I thank you for the time we had tonight. I was so grateful. My mind raced ahead to January 1st and how I'd be able to share with the world how God came through during the final month. Hallelujah! (yes, my imagination runs wild). After some time in prayer, I sent my date a short, but sweet email thanking him for the evening and telling him I was looking forward to seeing him again. That morning I woke up with a smile on my face. Although work was anything but rosy, the memory of the date lingered. I knew he would call that night and I looked forward to the evening. But he didn’t call. I did that thing where I checked my phone to make sure it was working and it was. I reasoned that perhaps he had a busy day, but he would call the next day. Well the next day came and went and I didn’t hear from him. Nor did I receive an email. Finally, after 5 days I called. I didn’t want to sound desperate, so I left a message and asked him the name of the car dealership he mentioned when we were together. There! That sounded like I wanted to talk, but didn’t sound desperate or hurt that I hadn’t heard from him. But I didn't receive a return phone call. Then I got worried and I thought perhaps he got into an accident on the way home from our date and is in a coma. But I saw that his online dating profile had been active within the last 24 hours, so he was not only alive but had time to look for love. I can't imagine what happened. How could I have missed the signals? Obviously our date was not as significant for him as it was for me. After decades of putting myself out there, you'd think I'd be better prepared… that disappointment wouldn't penetrate this thick skin I've had to develop. It hurt my feelings and wounded my pride to the point where I didn't want to share with anyone what had happened, let alone blog about it to the world. But here I am sharing it with you in hopes that those of you who were duped like me won't think you're all alone in this. Looking for love can be fun and adventurous, but sometimes it just stinks!
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