So, I've taken the re-entry to the dating world slower than when I first started. The first lady I spoke to, I was hardly 6 weeks out from DDay.
I'm approaching six months now. I think I'm at a level. I've not really reached out on OLD, scrolled through once or twice and tapped likes on a few promising ladies, but I never really sent any messages or whatever, and didn't get any real responses.
Until just recently. About three weeks ago, ding! I get a notification from one platform from a lady I liked a while back that she liked me back and had commented on a quote of mine.
I had written;
Mankind's greatest danger lies not in aiming too high and missing his mark, but in aiming too low and achieving it.
~Michelangelo
... and she commented her agreement. I looked over her profile and recognized her. It turned out that we had chatted way back when on a different app, and she had actually been the first person I liked on OLD, and the first person I chatted with, but she had stopped using that platform so we fell away.
We've been chatting now for three weeks. Off and on, mostly on the weekends, maybe a message here and there during the week, more like letters between pen pals, asking questions about each other and getting a feel for compatibility. So far, we're jiving alright; the OLD platform gives us a 92% compatible rating, which is pretty good, I think (I realize algorithms and numbers are a poor judge of personal chemistry, but it's a start).
We were chatting at one point about hiking and exploring beaches (we're both fans of the coast) and I told her I'd never been to the region she was talking about, and she'd have to give me some pointers as to where to go. I quipped that it was a bit to early to ask her to show me herself, I hadn't even asked her out for drinks at a comedy show yet (we're both into stand-up comedy). She said I had her at drinks and comedy. Cue frantic search for a quality comedy show at a decent venue.
Tonight I asked her to go to a show with me on the 15th. It's a little ways out, but we both have kids and schedules to work around, and this gives us both time to make arrangements. She hasn't replied to the message yet, but I doubt she's seen it yet, since it's so late.
So yeah. I'm not as frantically excited about this one as I was the first one, I don't feel so desperate for connection... I've become more comfortable being alone, though I still hate being lonely.
I'm not going into this with a lot of expectation. I'm not really sure what I'm looking for, if anything. I'm just sort of... looking, I guess. She seems fun. I think it'll be a fun night, if she says yes. If not, well, I'll probably just go by myself or with one of my buddies. It's after work on a Saturday, so the day is mine; my ex can't screw me up by staying out too late; I'll just, yaknow, not come home after work.
Still. Kinda nervous. I've never gone out on a date as a single adult. I don't wanna be too dressed up, but I don't wanna slum it either. I don't wanna be one of those try-too-hard guys, but I don't want to seem like I'm not trying at all.
Man. This crap is complicated.