dates. the kind you go on, not the kind you eat.

I have been on many different kinds of dates with many different men/boys.

Best date: dinner and a play with a really cute guy who had berated his friends for not introducing me to him earlier.

Worst date: Lunch with a guy who looked at me at the end and said, "I suppose I should pay for this." My biggest regret is not saying, "well, yeah you should 'cause it's going to be your only chance." A number of my male friends wanted his address so they could beat him up.

Blind date #1: A couple of years ago I was a faculty member at Trinity Western University. My students were quite distressed that I was not married yet and set to trying to find me a husband. Although the average age of nursing students at TWU is about 19, there was one mature student. She was in her 40's. She set me up with her brother. Now, I'm game for practically anything, but I did experience a little anxiety when I realized this person was 15 years older than me. We met for dinner at a nice place in Vancouver. He was an attractive man and a pretty good conversationalist. We talked about work and where we'd grown up. About our families and places we had travelled. He started talking about high school and how we have all made mistakes and I nodded in agreement wondering where this was going. He said when he was in grade 12 he had fathered a child. I nodded compassionately while frantically calculating how old this child must be now. As I calculated in my head he said, "Now I have three grandchildren." I seriously must have looked stunned. Calculating ages quickly turned to "holy crap, I can't be a grandmother!" which turned to me finishing the three bites of food left on my plate. He paid for the meal and walked me to my car. That was the end of that.

Blind date #2: My friends parents and this guys parents were in a bible study together. They all knew we were both single so it was destiny right?! anyway, we met at a Starbucks in Surrey 'cause this guy lived there and he didn't want to drive over a bridge. This should have tweaked a number of red flags early on. He got there first and bought himself a coffee before I arrived thus keeping himself from having to buy me a coffee. He then proceed to talk about himself for one hour and 10 minutes pausing briefly to ask me, "so why AREN'T you married?" I thought to myself at that moment, "well, I know why you aren't." Shockingly, I went out with this guy again. See 'worst date' above.

Hilarious highlight to this blind date is my friend's husband, who just happens to be the lead pastor at my church, drove by to make sure I was okay. (just to clarify, this was before Westside existed.) He came by in his minivan with his, at the time, 3 year old in the car seat. He went through the drive thru very slowly and says he stopped and stared at me for quite some time. I must have been mesmerized by my date 'cause I didn't even notice him. He laughed and laughed the next time I saw him.

Well, there are a couple of stories which often make me smile. I'm glad I took the chances I did otherwise there would be not stories to tell. If a blind date was offered again I would go. Who knows? It may just turn out entirely different next time.