Brave Enough To Be Bliss

reflecting on the text I sent and why I said what I did. Were those really my feelings or had I just said that as an excuse, when really, I was simply scared to meet him? And if I was scared, why was that? It was a safe place during broad daylight, and I went places at night by myself and it didn’t bother me at all. So, by late Friday night, or technically early Saturday morning, having figured out what really happened, I sent this text to him, feeling good that I had gotten honest with myself and was being brave enough to share. Even if he didn’t respond, I felt better about at least being honest.

He did respond within a couple minutes, as I had woken him up. He said since he was awake if I wanted to call I could. It felt like the right thing to do, so I called, and it was clear from his voice I truly had woken him not even thinking about how late it was and that he might not turn the sound off on his phone. We proceeded to have a nice conversation, and he asked if I wanted to meet him that evening back at the same place we had originally planned. I said yes and was pleased that I had done the brave, honest thing, and that as a result, I would meet someone who I felt like could truly become a friend. I was running late that evening getting ready, but instead of stressing about it, I just sent a text when I was leaving and said I would be a few minutes late. He called and said that worked out great because church had run late, and he would be also. When I arrived, it hit me that I didn’t really know who I was looking for , because even though I had met him in the parking lot, I couldn’t remember what he looked like. As I was getting out of the car, I saw someone walking up in front of my car and figured it must be him. He looked surprised and said I looked very nice. I guess it was a stark difference from the post workout condition I was in outside Target. I wasn’t embarrassed at all, though, it just made me laugh inside thinking he would have approached me even looking like that. He was a true gentleman, opening the door for me, asking me where I wanted to sit, and so on. We had a lovely evening and honestly, I hated it to end. The conversation was very open, comfortable and then fun when we played pool. I hadn’t played the game much at all, so he went over the basics with me, and I found it quite enjoyable and wasn’t worried at all about how awful I was. It was just fun and when he only had one ball left, he would hit it to where I had an easy shot so I could continue to practice. Again, it seemed like a kind and thoughtful gesture. I left feeling very much treated like a lady and respected.

He went back to Michigan the next day, but we talked on the phone most days over the next couple weeks. I was emailing him about his resume and periodically I would mention other things. Inevitably he would call and read back through the email and give me feedback. It took me by surprise initially, but it was good. He didn’t tell me I couldn’t email him, but he was going to call and verbally discuss each and every item if I did. It was a good communication lesson for me and helped me get more experience with verbal discussions. During one phone or Facetime conversation he joked about me coming to visit him. That planted a seed and a few days later, I told him I was seriously considering taking a road trip and seeing what the state was all about. He said he’d be happy to show me around , so I figured it was a perfect opportunity to check off another bucket list item.

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