Chip Monster

The story of dating younger men continued...

Hugh and I decided to meet, we were going to meet for Mexican in Kennesaw which is a good middle point between us. On Friday after work I started my LONG trip from Alpharetta to Kennesaw - only about 20 miles but takes about an hour thanks to the great Atlanta traffic! (eye roll) I arrive at the restaurant and shoot him a text letting him know that I am walking in - hoping to determine if he is outside waiting, already at the table, or worst case running late -- I guess standing me up would be the worst case, but at the time that was not a thought. He quickly messages me back saying that he is outside waiting on me.

As I walk toward the main entrance, my heart begins to race and my palms get all clammy. He was wearing a short sleeve polo shirt, a pair of shorts (maybe made out of hiking material, water resistant - who knows), and hiking boots. Now, I wasn't super fancy as you should dress based on the place - I wore what I wore to work, nothing fancy, white pants and a blouse. I did put in a little extra effort -- brushed my hair! ha I tell you all that for NO reason, but thanks for sticking it out!

We make our way to the table, at this point I haven't really decided if I was going to have a REAL drink or not, but I did know I was going to indulge in some chips and salsa. That's one of the perks of going to a Mexican restaurant am I right, doesn't everyone go there and eat their weight in chips and salsa? No, just me?! oh well. Shortly after sitting down the waitress brings us the long awaited basket of chips and bowl of salsa! I dig in, I suppose I should have waited or at least shown some restraint, but I can't help myself. We begin to eat our chips and get this date started.

How many of you believe that you can make your decision in the first couple minutes on if this is going to be a relationship worth investing in? I am one of those people, I usually have a gut feeling within the first 10 minutes if I can see this date going anywhere. This might seem petty to some and I know that we all have our quirks, all I am asking for is for you to keep an open mind as there are certain things I KNOW that I won't be able to deal with on a regular basis - pet peeves if you will. Hugh and I both begin to eat the chips and I notice that Hugh eats them in a strange way. He tries to put each chip into his mouth instead of biting it - thus causing it to crumble yet he still tries to shove it into his mouth.

One of the things we have in common based on our profiles and the brief conversations we've had was skydiving. I want to go skydiving so bad but just haven't been able to make the timing work just yet. This topic quickly came up in conversation and he proceeds to tell me that his first jump was December of 2018 and since then he has been 130+ times. HOLY SMOKES - my immediate thought was 'that seems a little excessive' but you if that is how he wants to spend his time, who am I to judge that. So I just say Oh My, that's a lot of jumps. The conversation continues:

Hugh: Do you know what would be awesome? Me: nope, what would be awesome? Hugh: On your first jump, you will jump tandem and I will jump solo beside you. On the fall down I will come to where you are, grab your hands and kiss you in the air. Wouldn't that be great? Me: hmm, I've never really thought about that. I am going to guess that I will most likely NOT be relaxed as I am falling 8,000 feet but will be screaming, so I am not sure that will actually be able to happen.

Such a strange conversation, right? We talked a little bit more about skydiving and then I try to bring up other topics, you know just to see how he spends his free time. Ohhh, I forgot to mention that he is an elevator mechanic - I've never met one of those before - wooohoo, a first for me. The more I try to steer the conversation away from skydiving he continue to loop it back in. He then starts telling me that he owns his house and is in the process of redoing a couple rooms and asks me if I would like to see it. Little forward for a first date, don't ya think? I politely tell him, sure if this continues I could see myself coming to your house. I guess that wasn't the answer he wanted so he decided it was a good time to show me a picture of him skydiving. As he is logging into his phone, I see that he has a picture of a kid on his lock screen - he did NOT tell me he had a kid. So I ask him about that, who is that little guy?! He proceeds to tell me he is his ex fiancé's but he has practically raised him for the last couple years. My mind immediately begins to think about the possibilities, I wonder how that would work, would he still want to be involved in the little boy's life? Is that something I'm okay with? Once he's pulled up his Facebook, this was my first opportunity to see his last name - I wasn't able to sleuth without a last name.

Right before the check came, Hugh says "You know what, I know how I am going to get you to fall in love with me." Woah, do ya now?! How do you see that happening? He replies "I am going to take you on a sunset skydive and by the time we make it to the bottom, I KNOW you will be in love with me." I am speechless, I was NOT expecting for someone to plan my falling in love with him on a first date. By this time I know that there is not going to be a second date, so I offer to pay for my meal. He insists that he pays for it as he was the one who asked me out to dinner. I would much rather pay for my own meal, just because I know how expensive it is to date, especially if I know there is NOT going to be a second date. What I won't do is, argue about the check. I will offer if you reject my offer more than once, I will not ask again.

The check comes, he pays and then he says "You ready to get out of here?" My first thought was -- yep, I sure am but I don't think it's what you're thinking. I collect my belonging and make our way towards the door. In the parking lot he goes in for a kiss -- eek -- I have to do that bob and weave and dodge the kiss. I go in for a simple side hug and thank him for the meal. He breaks up the awkward silence by asking if I'm going to come to his house. WHAT, he really thinks that after one meal I am going to go to his house. That is absolutely not going to happen - people are weird. I politely tell him no thank you, when he comes back with "you said you would come see my house". I think he forgot the part where I said "I would come see your house if this relationship continues". Anyway, we said goodbye and I rushed back to my car where I eagerly watched for him to leave and then called my aunt to share the news.

While this wasn't my future husband, I do try to make the best out of the dates. There is no reason that I can't sit and chat with a stranger for an hour - it is fun getting to know strangers and finding out what makes them tick!

Since I know you guys are truly wondering how this ended - I decided not to ghost him as I wouldn't want that to happen to me. So, I sent him a text the next day that read something like this "Thanks for taking me out to dinner, unfortunately I don't think it's going to work out between us. You're really nice but I don't feel enough of a romantic connection to continue this further."