FINALLY! The dating floodgates have opened and now I practically need a secretary to keep my appointments on my calendar straight!  Where have these guys been?  I've been on a dating dry-spell for years, and now I'm getting bombarded with suitors?!  It must be my new profile, either that or the Dating Gods are now smiling down upon me for doing something right!

*DING!*

I'm not going to lie, there is still residual energy...thoughts…whatever you want to call it, regarding DC Dude yet I am determined to move forward EVEN IF I HAVE TO DATE EVERYONE IN NEW YORK, I SWEAR, I AM GOING TO MOVE PAST IT….so help me God!!

I have a new date coming up, and this time I found him the old-fashioned way, thanks to my neighbor, John.  John was standing outside smoking a cigar when I got home the other night.  I like John - he's in his 60's and just a class act - happily married, well-traveled and just has a wealth of knowledge, plus he told me I can take out BMW M3 whenever I want to......!!

VRRRRROOOMMMM!!!!!!

So, I'm getting out of my car and notice John ushering me over, and as usual, we started to chit-chat.  He tells me that he just came back from Italy with his wife and a good friend of his who he considered "like a son."  He tells me all the fabulous things they did in Italy, all the while giving me the hard sales pitch on his friend.  From time to time, while describing his friend and his two-week long tour of Italy, he'd turn his head, take a puff off his cigar, and in very contemplating manner, blow the smoke up in the air very casually....thinking.

I knew what was coming.

"You know, my friend is single, and I actually brought you up while we were in Italy.  I really think the two of you should meet."

My first knee-jerk reaction was, of course, "How tall is he?"  John looks up in the air, scratches his beard, and says, "I think he's about 6'1," showing me with his other hand.   More than likely, the guy is only six feet tall, which still isn't bad but, *wrinkles nose* I prefer taller.  I'm 5'11"!!  I need a tall man!

As our conversation continued, I'm thinking, do I have enough time to squeeze in another date? My dance card was getting full at that point.  Match from Hell was paying off – I had 3 guys on the roster already:

1. Landscape Guy
2. Interior Designer Dude
3. Swedish Dude. 

But, what the heck?  Why not?  What’s one more date?  What’s one more guy.........


I realized after John's great sales pitch that I was going to have to give up my phone number.  So, I wrote it down on a piece of paper and handed it to him.  John seemed quite pleased with himself.

We wrapped up our conversation, and said our good-bye's.  As I was walking away, he added, "Oh, by the way, Carrie, my friend has three children.  Fourteen, twelve and nine."

Fourteen, twelve and nine..........

Oh, God, I could end up like Julia Roberts in "Stepmom"..........

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OK, well John....that would be an important piece of information to give me BEFORE I agreed to meet your friend.  THREE children?  That's a lot!  NOT that I don't like kids, but that's definitely "instant family" right there.  Kinda scary, if you ask me!

I yell back over to him, "Thanks for that information John! Hey, by the way, what does he look like?"

Confidently he says, "He's looks like Conan O'Brien," waves good-bye and walks into his house.

Wait, Conan O'Brien?

Don't over-analyze it, Carrie.....just go with it!

My blind-date called me two days later and, after a nice 20 minute conversation, we made plans for a dinner-date the following night. He would, of course, pick me up seeing that his good friend, John, lived across from me.

The night of our date, I got home and tried to talked myself out of the date. We all know that blind dates are disastrous…what was I doing?! He’s probably going to be fat and short - oh my God, this is going to be painful!

By the time I had got ready, and bitched several times why I should be canceling my date to my roommate, the doorbell rang.

Taking a deep breath and saying a small prayer, I opened the door.

Standing in front of me was NOT Conan O'Brien, but a very handsome man!  Hell, I practically fell over because my blind date was hot!  (Not quite 6'1...but *whispering* we all knew he was only going to be 6' anyway.)

Dinner was very enjoyable. He spoke immediately of his three children – two boys and a girl. He had married his high-school sweetheart, and had been divorced for 8 years - simple enough.

I couldn't help but notice that he was a really good looking guy with a square jaw and looked more like Ed Harris (with a full head of hair) than Conan O'Brien, for damn sure.

Hello!  Ed Harris!  Meow!

I have always been a sucker for that strong, square, Irish jaw....

*Pause*

Wait, my FATHER has the same classic, Irish look – small nose and strong jaw.

*Weird moment*

Moving right along……

I'm two glasses of red wine in, and we are onto the subject of our last names. I happen to be really be fond of my last name. My date seemed to like it, too. Then, he tells me that he’s actually not Irish, but Scottish…and said his last name is McSomething.

*Singing*

La-la-la….I'm feeling no pain...Scottish…Irish….whatever, it’s all the same to me (seeing I’m both as well). I take another sip of my wine, but stopped myself and blurted out, “But, wait….I thought your last name was O’Brien...”

*Blink-blink. Tilts head to side*

For the love of God, in my hazy, red wine moment, I couldn’t think of where I got the idea that his last name was O’Brien.  I was drawing a blank, and my awkward moment wasn't being helped out when I started mumbling my own thoughts out-loud.

Ooops!

Once I realized my error, I was quick to switch the subject, never knowing if my blind date knew his friend, John, described him as Conan....

Despite my big faux pas, we ended the evening with a little kissy-kissy make-out session in the car when we said good-bye. The following day he sent me a text, “What a good time, I enjoyed my blind date!” I responded back by saying basically the same thing, but I didn’t hear from him after that. OK, fair enough – I had fun, and this is what dating is all about.  At least, that’s what Nathan, my brother, keeps reminding me...

Well, Nathan, I had fun. And, he was a good kisser!

Next!

~Carrie