Enchanted

After two bad dates and one decent date, I was ready for a break. I had my fourth date lined up in Indy after I got home for Thanksgiving when I received a last minute email on Match. All it said was “Hi, I’m Mike.” That’s it. No questions, no “How are you?” No cheesy lines or fake conversation. That was it. When I clicked on his profile, I was pleasantly surprised. Mostly, I was shocked at the pictures he had posted…they were all really good…and he was REALLY cute!


Against all odds, I emailed Mike back. We talked back & forth for a bit about Christmas shopping (or the lack thereof on his part). He emailed me one last time and gave me his website and a link to his Facebook page telling me to friend him. I hadn’t even been out on a date with this guy yet and he wants me to friend him? I figured there’s probably not a better way to get a true picture of someone than their Facebook page, so I added him.

I found out he lived in the suburbs, is a photographer on the side (explaining the awesome pictures), he was 28 and worked at a marketing firm in the suburbs. By this point, he’d already asked to meet up on Wednesday night, but I was leaving Wednesday morning for Indy. He’d already set up plans with some coworkers in the city on Tuesday night and decided to invite me along. Shockingly, I agreed to go on a first date with a stranger and his coworkers.

The morning of our date, he texted me the location and followed up with “Oh yeah…I’m also doing No-Shave November, so I kind of have a beard. Normally I don’t.” Got it…so I’m looking for a group of strangers and a guy with a beard. Great. This should be interesting.

That evening, I arrived first and secured a table for a bunch of people. Finally, Mike arrived…and true to text, he had a full beard with a beanie hat on and resembled a lumberjack. Once we got to talking, I realized that I actually liked this guy. He was funny, charming, incredible smart, had AWESOME taste in music and was a really talented photographer. (I didn’t want to tell him that about 90% of my Google reader is filled with photography blogs because he might think I’m crazy.) The next thing I knew it was 11pm and we were the last two at the table. We talked about our friends, family, jobs and lumberjack calendars (seriously).

He kept his arm around me the whole night and was very sweet in general. Because I’m slightly crazy, and I actually liked this guy, I couldn’t look him in the eyes. It made me nervous and I didn’t want him to see I was totally into him.

Eventually, I had to get home and he had to head back to the suburbs. We said goodbye (with a hug) outside of the restaurant and I poured myself into a cab. I sent Mike a text thanking him for dinner and to let him know that my cabbie was blaring Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” We ended up texting until 2am.

As KK & I headed back to Indy the next day, I recalled all of my recent dates. She could tell that I was excited about Mike, even though I was trying not to get my hopes up. Taylor Swift’s “Enchanted” played in my CD player (and my mind) for the entire five days I was home.



“This is me praying that this was the very first page, not where the storyline ends. My thoughts will echo your name until I see you again. These are the words I held back as I was leaving too soon: I was enchanted to meet you. Please don't be in love with someone else. Please don't have somebody waiting on you.” ~Taylor Swift