Blind dates scare the crap out of me

So I need to be very honest with you guys! Not that I haven’t been in the past, but this is something that I have never ever told anyone, not even my best friends!

About a year after my divorce I saw a marriage and dating counselor a couple of times thinking that maybe she would have some miracle solution for my loneliness. But after a couple of sessions with her I decided that I had a lot more personal healing to do before I could even begin to think about dating, in a serious manner, let alone marriage. Once I had this revelation, I decided that maybe I shouldn’t be forking out the money I was for the counselor until I had my life a little more lined up.

Anyway, long story short, almost three years after our original meeting, I got a random email from this counselor . The email was basically a personal ad for a gentleman that she was trying to find the perfect girl for. His profile was very intriguing, the only thing I didn’t match up on was age. He was looking for a woman in her 40’s. Ok…I’m not 40 but, from her description of this guy, he was someone that I was definitely interested in meeting. So, on a whim I decided to reply to her email. My response was just simple…”I’m 38…is that close enough?” I was half heartedly kidding with my response thinking I was just trying to be funny, but five minutes later a reply message popped up from my counselor. “I think that is close enough…you two have a lot in common.” I was shocked at her quick response. I pondered this email for a couple of days before I replied back to her.

So now, because of my “cute response to her email” we have a very blind date next week. And by very blind, I mean, she won’t even tell me his name. I know this is weird, but for me, this is probably good. Let’s say, for example, she told me his name was Mark. I’m the type of person that would think about past Mark’s I have dated and come up with some preconceived picture in my head of this guy. For the sake of this blog post, the Mark “in my head” would probably be one that had a foot fetish…I’m just saying…anyway, it is this preconceived notion that my counselor is trying to prevent me from concocting in my head before the date. So for this reason, I am glad that I don’t even know his name.

However, not knowing his name makes this whole scenario very scary. Here is how it is supposed to work; ideally, the counselor makes a dinner reservation under her name. The perfect scenario is that Mr. No Name would show up a couple of minutes before me and wait. I would then arrive, give the name of my party to the hostess and he would immediately stand up and introduce himself to me. From there we would be seated and a fantastic evening full of good conversation and chemistry would begin. But as we all know…this kind of scenario never happens to me, it’s a fact of life…it just doesn't!

Now here is how I see this scenario playing out in my head. Per the counselors request I go get my hair cut (I know…I was shocked by this…my hair has always been my pride and joy) and I walk out of the salon with an 80’s perm. Then I head to MAC for a makeover where I come out looking like my Barbie head that I put makeup on when I was eight. I head to Applebee’s…I know, nothing like a kid friendly restaurant for a first date, only to find that there are three reservations under the same name as my therapist and to no avail there is no one waiting patiently for me to arrive. I sit at the table waiting for Mr. No Name to show up. After 30 minutes I ask the hostess if anyone else has come looking for my party. “Oh yes”, she laughs…”he has been here for almost a half hour, he is on the other side of the restaurant.” She escorts me to his table where I meet this middle aged “old man” in a jacket and tie who is already two sheets to the wind waiting for me to arrive. From there the conversation goes nowhere and we find that we have nothing in common.

Yep, that's it...that’s how I see this “blind date” playing out… Oh boy, I can’t wait!