Grown-ass man

So I had my date last night. You know what? It was kinda great.

We met for dinner and I think we were both relieved that neither had misrepresented ourselves (I knew he hadn't because of course I'd googled his phone number, found his Facebook page, got his full name and then googled him again and found a few tidbits about him here and there). 

Even though I had only texted/chatted with him before we met, he was really cool and interesting and easy to talk to. And very secure and straight forward. Is this what dating in your forties, post-children is supposed to be? Because I like it.

I had a moment before the date when I worried it would be like that painfully awkward scene in Fargo where Marge (?) meets up with her old high school friend. Thankfully it was nothing like that. 

What's he like? Late forties, divorced dad of an almost seven-year-old girl. Yale graduate, Masters from NYU. Awesome boisterous Korean laugh. Works for some kind of start up. Very insightful and smart and evolved. He told me his friends had asked if we were getting drinks and he told them he felt he needed a clear head to "keep up with me" (not bad for me, a high school graduate, eh?). He was great with the compliments and kept telling me how great I looked and how all those guys who never called me again must have been crazy and/or intimidated by me. Thank you, that is my theory exactly.

We reminisced about the East Village in the 80s and how when they opened The Gap on St Mark's Place that it was officially over. We quoted Woody Allen ("I need a large polo mallet") and Louis CK (first date conversation - female, "where are we going?" male, "to your death, statistically"). We talked about online experiences (one woman stood him up - turns out she had been jailed the night before for a DUI - and she has three kids).

We went for coffee after dinner and at one point he asked, "can I kiss you?" and we, like, totally made out. And he's an excellent kisser. I felt it in my toes. Aww yeah. We had another nice make out session by the car and then thanks to the coffee and/or hormones I was up buzzing until 6AM. Ouch. 

We're going to try to get together before I leave on Monday. I've got a lot going on (including a date with someone else tomorrow) and he has his daughter next weekend, but hopefully we'll figure something out.

So I'm trying not to get too excited because, you know, I've been let down so very many times, even after dates as good as this (but I don't normally kiss on the first date, so that's new). And he is still pretty much a stranger - who knows what lurks beneath? But for now I may have a candidate for my (hopefully) libidinous birthday weekend in Palm Springs, and that is super exciting.