First Date #12 - Thank Heavens!

A married friend asked how you meet people (physically) after you contact them online. Well, the most typical meetings are simply a casual dinner out, or coffee. You can try a fancy dinner, or you can suggest a walk somewhere (in public) but casual dinner/coffee are pretty good, low pressure methods for meeting someone for the first time. I've certainly learned that you can't tell anything about a person's online profile. You can learn a little more by chatting on the phone, but I pretty much try to reserve any judgments (good or bad) until after meeting someone in person and talking.

This first meeting with Date #12 was a coffee date. Two hours later and on the way out I suggest we meet again sometime. So I've fulfilled the purpose of a first date - to decide if I want to go on a second date. No reason to think past the second date. Better to get five dates in a row with someone before thinking any further. Each of the first five date's goal is simply to see if I would like to proceed to the next. Best to keep it simple as you begin to learn about each other.

Even on the way to the coffee shop I was pretty excited to have reached my goal of a Dozen First Dates. I started with the simple goal to learn about dating and to become comfortable with it again, but I've learned to much more than I could have imagined. It seems it can really pay off to go with your instincts and set off on an adventure (with clearly defined boundaries) and you can end up learning way more than you could have imagined.