First Date #8

I suggested a fancy restaurant but date #8 countered with a brew pub, so we found ourselves on a warm summer night having dinner on a deck overlooking the Hudson River (and drinking alcohol on a first date - red flag number one!). I really liked this woman from the beginning which is probably why I was neglecting to evaluate the various things she was saying beyond her words. If I'd been paying attention I would have seen the flags that began with little lies ("I made my age 5 years younger on the dating website to attract younger men") and which gradually expanded into larger "fibs" about her past relationships. Then there was this air of tension - I couldn’t figure out if she just had a high energy level, or if she was always nervous about something - but then as long as I knew her she would always come across as very intense. Anyway, I was enjoying the evening so nothing flagged my enthusiasm.

We would end up dating for about five weeks. My interest in seeing her would eventually bring an end to my dating the woman I'd known all last winter and whom I had continued to date through the Summer. That relationship ended one week short of a "one year anniversary".

This new relationship brought with it a physical fire which would eventually erupt into the emotional side. Number 8 would come to be known as my "fatal attraction" dating experience. In late August things would end in a fireball of accusatory e-mails directed toward me - like meteors steaking across the night sky. I carefully catalogued those e-mails and sent a copy to friends in case I were to mysteriously disappear. I honestly spent a couple of nights wondering if my house would burn down with me in it! Unfortunately #8's e-mails didn’t stop with me - she managed to contact my "one year anniversary" girlfriend and send e-mails to her also.

I *really* got the message that you best get to know your dates as friends for a while before you venture into anything more…