Cheating on My Community or My Great Blind Date!

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COMMUNITY - Sharing, participation, and fellowship. [Community week starts here. Click for this week's Bliss Initiatives.]

I had planned to put a post about Facebook here today but I just had to tell you about my "cheating! blind date" yesterday. You see I have an amazing group of mommy friends with whom little J and I spend countless hours and adventures with but yesterday I decided to sneak off to one of our regular haunts with strangers! Who were these strangers? The Darling M. of we bloom here and her sweet child S.  

A Rainbow of Birds From we bloom here

I already introduced M. to you guys when I found her delightful birdy project, which the girl and I immediately had to copy! So while not strangers entirely, and we have developed a nice on line friendship,  when we realized we live close enough to actually meet that is when it got positively titillating for me.

Our version made it to The Jungle!

You see, prior to meeting and marrying my Sweetie I was a fiendish an avid on line dater. I really enjoyed the anticipation of meeting... what would he be like? Is he as cute as his picture? Would he like me? Over the years I had some crazy dates but I never stopped enjoying the mystery of the "what ifs" that preceded every first date. It was always fun but in those cases where I had actually corresponded for a while and I had started to form real feelings there was an additional layer of trepidation. I felt like I already had a friend. Would, could meeting ruin that? Often it did. 

Well, meeting M. was a little bit like that kind of first date. Reading someone's blog for a while you start to think that you really do know them. I went into our planned meet up wondering if meeting might ruin what we already had? While reading her blog I had created her as the perfect, sensitive and kind parent I always hoped to be. She was smart, fanciful, had environmental values I share and seemed to be walking  her talk far more then I ever have. How the heck could this paragon of virtue actually want to be friends with me? But here she was agreeing to an actual meeting!

In the morning I was scurrying around performing my former pre-date rituals. You know, figuring out what to wear, making sure I took the time to blow dry my hair and since we were double dating after all, picking out a cute Naartje outfit for little J. I did all this entirely laughing at myself. M. might think I am bonkers if she ever found out (yet here I go telling her! lol)  I really was carrying on like I was going on a first date. And then the phone rang.

It was M. We had exchanged phone numbers in anticipation of the meet but we hadn't actually spoken. All of our logistics were handled by email. So of course, like every paranoid dater, I was certain she must be calling to cancel. I was certain she must have changed her mind and we would make a faint attempt at rescheduling but it wouldn't happen. OK can you say jaded? So some of my online dating experiences weren't all that great after all...

But NO!

All my paranoid thoughts leaping to crazy conclusions were immediately quashed. M. was calling to suggest a change in venue because the weather wasn't looking promising for our planned activity. We laughed together at how it always takes longer to get out the door then you think it will and set plans for 1:30ish and she would call again when she arrived. She sounded nice! This was getting more promising by the second!

J and I arrived about 30 minutes before M and S. Just long enough for my girl to make a dashing glance at every exhibit and for me to check the time 85 thousand times.  And then finally it was time! M and S were at the front door and we went to meet them.  

It was friend at first sight! 

We spent the rest of the afternoon thoroughly enjoying each other's company.  So much in fact, there was a few minutes when we lost track of our kids who had run off together, enjoying their new friendship too.  Sharing panic has a way of cementing a friendship so I know that we will enjoy future adventures together. You can read more about our day together over on M's blog here.

Do you have a favorite first date story? Have you ever met any of your online friends?

Next Post: Might actually be the one about Facebook!

My 13 bliss virtues are joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, and surprise.



This week we are studying Community. Next up is Romance Week.