I guess I’m a little delayed, or maybe it’s bad timing. Or is it? With just six weeks left in London I decided to start dating. I guess I just wasn’t ready before. ‘You’ve been there for two years, shouldn’t you have started before now?’ asked one friend. ‘What took you so long?’ Well, for the first year I had a fiance back home. And then it took a while to even want to be back in the dating scene.
So last week I went to the movies with one of my girlfriends and she mentioned that she had two dates that weekend. I was quite impressed and asked her how she managed it. Online, of course, and she named the two web sites.
I’m no stranger to online dating – that’s how I met my ex-fiance (and how I ended up on the worst date in the world, beginning with a meeting at Plymouth Rock, but that’s a story for another time). And several of my friends are on multiple dating sites. Kristen is even writing a book based on all her bad dates – that will be a best seller for sure! Anyway, as fun and easy as it is, I just wasn’t sure I should try it again, especially with such little time left in this country.
But, ah, the power of advertising: everywhere I went, particularly on the tube (subway for my American friends), I kept seeing the same ad for Lovestruck London. ‘Free for lunch? Free for coffee? Meet someone today!’ It sounded so informal, not like the lifetime commitment of eharmony or Match. And I love the idea of something being spur of the moment, rather than email for weeks, talk for a while longer and then finally meet, only to find there’s no chemistry so you wasted all those hours. What would I lose over a bad lunch date? An hour? I think I can spare that.
I caved – I’m back online. I was completely upfront in my profile and said I only have a few weeks left, but want to make the most of it. Who wants to show me their favorite parts of London before I head back to the US? I’ve already had a few dates. And they’ve been fun. I’m smiling – and they seem to be too. All in all I think it was a good idea, almost wish I’d done it sooner.
So I told Tina about this and she came up with a new idea: what about doing similar on the road trip? How about A Date in Every State? The waiter/actor in California, the rancher in Texas, the stockbroker in New York, the possibilities are endless. We spent forever on the phone laughing, planning and plotting.
But I’m not sure it’s for me. I think it may be too gimmicky. I don’t want to do anything like try to hit every state or visit every shrine to this, that or the other thing. I really just want to go where I feel like going. I’m also no Carrie Bradshaw. I’m not sure I could – correction: not sure I would want to – dish intimate details about every encounter with the opposite sex. While it may make some good reading, I’m not ready to be THAT much of an open book.
Don’t get me wrong. If I run into my dream guitar playing, black hat and white t-shirt wearing cowboy, I’m happy to have a date on the road. But it has to just happen. I don’t want to be setting up dates in every state and have some strict itinerary that limits my adventure. So while you had a great idea T, I think I have to pass on it. Maybe one of my other single friends wants to give it a try?
Amy's America 