The Anti-Austen: The Closer

Showing posts with label The Closer. Show all posts

Oh lovely readers. Have you wondered where I fell off the earth and died to? I would like to think that you have been chomping at the bit to know what the updates are from where we left off with Mr. Manager

Well, if you must know... I haven't been around because I have been busy falling in love! Dating Mr. Manager has been one of the best choices that I have ever made. Ladies, I'm telling you, not dating a man because he is shorter than me was a silly decision. I would not trade him for any tall man in the world.

I've found out a little more about what was going on in his mind when I was wondering why he was tossing rocks at my window, or making comments about marriage. As it turns out, he always found himself a little confused at his desire to be around me all the time, and at the fact that I was always on his mind. The thought had crossed my mind to ask me on a date at various points, but I had made all too many comments early on about how we could never date because of the height difference. (Doh! If I'd have only known.) I finally made enough sideways comments and suggestions about that no longer being the case that he decided to ask me out.

Truth be told, I think the timing of it all was perfect. I think I needed to only see him as a friend, so I could trust the way I felt about him. And I needed to take the time to be sure it was worth a try to date a shorter man. I've always been prone to getting swept off of my feet, but with Mr. Manager, I fell in love with my head first, and then my heart, so I trust it so much more. And let me tell you, the way I love him now is incredible. I've been in love before, but never like this.

Once we started to date, everything felt like it was falling into place. The walls that we had both kept up for so long got to come down, and I have never felt so cherished.

I say all of this leading up to an announcement....

Mr. Manager and I are engaged.

And have been for a month or so now, and are getting married at the end of March.

So what this means for The Closer- is that she is saying farewell. On to ~~bigger~~ shorter and better things!

Writing for this blog has been so fun, and Mr. Manager appreciates all of you being my cheerleaders in deciding to take a shot in dating him. Good luck to you all in that BYU dating world!

Yours Truly, for the last time,

The Closer (soon to be Mrs. Manager)

Big weekend folks.

Mr. Manager came over on Sunday for dinner. We ate and chatted for an hour or so, and after we finished eating he was showing me a cut on his finger, so I went upstairs to get some ointment for it. When I came downstairs he had moved over to the living room and was sitting on the couch, so I went and sat by him.

We got his cut all bandaged back up and then he just put his arm around me, no shyness, just went for it. I leaned onto his shoulder and just kept talking with him, and was still fiddling with the ointment because I was so nervous. Meanwhile he listened intently to my stories and rubbed my arm. After a while of that he asked to see the ointment, and ended up setting it on the other side of him, and then taking my hand with his free hand.

At this point things started to open up in the conversation, he told me how much he likes me, and we started to talk about the various times we considered dating the other and never did anything about it. Apparently for a long time, he was convinced there was no way I would ever date him. As it turns out, we've both been fighting the same feelings for a while now. It wasn't long after this that we kissed, and it was fabulous.

Now Mr. Manager has never struck me as the romantic type... but as it turns out, he is sweet, and tender, and affectionate. And now that the walls are down, he is like a whole different guy, in all the best ways.

One of the times that he kissed me on Sunday, because yes, there were several, he paused and said "Just so you know, this means we're dating exclusively".

I woke up smiling the next day, and haven't really stopped smiling all week.

Yours Truly,

The Closer

I hope everyone is trying their very best to enjoy our quick step into Winter. Can I just say that getting to wear boots has almost made the snow worth it?

Over the last couple of weeks I have been on several dates with The Crooner, Tacoma, a new guy named Leonardo, and Mr. Manager. At first going on all of these dates was incredibly fun, but this last weekend I decided that it’s getting exhausting. Here’s where things are at with these fine suitors…

The Crooner- Very interesting guy, great conversationalist, very smart, but turns out we have very different views on a variety of important things. He took me out to dinner about a week and I decided that I was no longer interested in dating him.

Tacoma- He is so fun. I have had a fantastic time on almost every date, once he shows up that is. He has been a collective two and a half hours late for our total of four dates. This last date I decided that as fun as he is, there is not any depth there for me, he’s just easy to laugh with. This past Saturday I decided that I was no longer interested in dating him.

Leonardo- This one is charming, my goodness, and enthralled with me. More than once now he has proclaimed that I am the coolest girl he has taken out in months, maybe ever. This would ordinarily be flattering, but he has never really tried to get to know me. Very few questions of any depth, or rather, very few of any kind. On our second date, also this last Saturday, I decided that I am no longer interested in dating him.

Now onto the last one…

Mr. Manager- He is by far the slowest mover of them all. Our first date was around the end of September, and we went on our fourth/fifth date this last weekend (it’s hard to tell which date we’re on because there have been several not-so-datey-dates in between).

Everything was going great from my last post, when we had only gone on two dates. Our third date, was not great. I was really worried that he might try and hold my hand or something, and trying to decide what that might mean and if I was ready for it (Really? C’mon Closer, stop stressing about a hand hold). He must have picked up on my lack of good vibes because no date that next weekend. Then at church I saw him get a new girl’s phone number, and that stung. I wasn’t sure how much I liked him after our choppy third date, but that stung too much for me to keep pretending I did not have feelings for him. I decided that I was going to bite the bullet and put myself out there, I asked him if we could go for a drive.

A couple days later we go for a drive, end up walking around at the Riverwoods and then talking in his truck. I took a good hour before I got up the nerve to tell him, but I told him that I liked him, and didn’t know if those feelings were reciprocated, and to what extent. This led into another hour or two of really great conversation. Both of us expressing our feelings, our hesitations, our hopes. He said that he wanted to keep taking me out, I told him okay but that I was dating other guys, and he should know that (this was before this last week of man-slaying).

He told me at one point that I am easily one of the most amazing women that he knows, and when that comes from a Mr. Manager instead of a Leonardo, it kind of makes my heart sing.

I met some of his family this weekend, and he’s been calling me mid-week to chat, and I’m cooking dinner for him this weekend. He love the way I feel around him. I am happy.

A week ago I would not have wanted to date him exclusively. But today, I most definitely do.

Yours Truly,

The Closer

Oh, well, hello readers. If my text-based-voice sounds soothed and refreshed, that would be due to my recent completion of a two week long European vacation with Rex and company. And I am pleased to report that my fears were not realized, I am stronger than I previously supposed, and did not enjoy anything but friendship with Rex over those two weeks. Let's go ahead and take a moment to give me a gold star.

*Accepts it graciously.

Europe was incredible, but this is not a travel blog, this is a dating blog! So onward we go.

Before my trip, the last time I posted, I had gone on one date with both The Crooner, and Mr. Manager. I have now gone on two dates with both of them, and have plans for a third date with Mr. Manager this weekend, and a phone full of texts from The Crooner. Oh, and I also have a second date this weekend with Tacoma (yes, he's new).

There must be something in the water lately because I'm not typically this irresistible to the opposite sex. Even I am jealous of my life, and I'm the one living it.

Alright, so how about if I just tell you more details about one of these gentlemen? I’ll pick Mr. Manager, because he’s the one I am most excited to have more to tell about.

Mr. Manager and I went on our first date, and I wasn’t sure what would come of it. Maybe it was going to be another experience like with Mijo, where he took me out once and then we decided friends was best. Maybe he likes me a little, maybe a lot. I didn’t know, and was asking myself lots of these questions. I decided that I would say yes to a second date if he asked, and that was that.

Then he did ask, for that very next weekend. (I will also add that Mr. Manager is notoriously terrible at diligent pursuit of a lady, so this was a noteworthy time frame).

Date number two was not quite as great as the first. I found myself mid-date thinking “This is just okay…”, but by the end of the date on our drive home we had fallen into great conversation and I remember then thinking to myself “I don’t want this drive to end.”

That was a Friday. That following Sunday I saw him at a small ward get together, and we talked for two hours there. The next night I had asked him for a blessing before I left on my trip, and he came over for that, and we talked for three hours before he left. The next night we were supposed to go with a small group to the temple, and everyone cancelled but he and I. We lingered longer there in the temple for an extra hour or so.

You would think by this time I would be beside myself with giddiness. Well, that’s what I would expect of myself. I don’t feel any of those rollercoaster feelings that I have with other men I have dated as of late. I feel calm, and happy, and very even. Every now and then I still get little jolts of excitement that force a smile onto my face. It is lovely. I feel healthy, and if things ended today I would be fine, and if things continued tomorrow I would be happy.

I have been home from Europe for a week now, and he wasn't exactly beating the door down to see me when I got back. Mr. Manager still has a thing or two to learn about how wooing a woman will not always mesh perfectly with schedule and practicality.

As of right now, nothing has been verbalized in the arena of what we will call “feelings” between us. Should I venture to explore a conversation like that? Or is that better left to occur in a way that has not been forced?

Yours Truly,

The Closer

Oh do I have some fun updates. I've been so excited to blog that I almost blogged early and then I got distracted so now I am diligently posting on my allotted day, to give you these exciting updates.

Which to start with... Let's start with The Crooner. The Crooner moved into my ward about a month ago, and I quickly ended up on a group date with him. It was light, he was fun and a good conversationalist, and there was some mutual chemistry. He's been texting me pretty consistently and asked me out once but I wasn't able to go that night (and offered another night like a good lady does). Finally we got to go out last night, maybe two weeks after the first date. We went to an open mic night and he plays guitar and sings so he performed a couple of songs. Now, I am not the typical girl who is easily swooned by a man with a guitar. On the contrary as a matter of fact. But he was so talented that I was not even turned off. Afterwards we chatted at his apartment for a while, and he walked me home, then sent ME a post date text to thank me for coming. That was certainly refreshing, and surprising.

The Crooner apparently has taken a fancy to me, and has convinced me to join him again tonight for dessert. Luckily my week is quite full after tonight so he shall have no more luck in catching me on last minute dates. Which are only a frustration on occasion I should add.

So this is just exciting update number one, and I am much more excited about update number two. Now, I have mentioned Mr. Manager on several occasions on this blog. He is my close friend who I have little by little fallen in ~~love~~ like with. My biggest wrestle has been the fact that he is at least five inches shorter than me. Outside of this fact, I think he is phenomenal. We just 'get' each other. And our friendship has always felt just a little different than my other guy friendships, like Rex.

So I've been wrestling with these feelings a lot lately, and wondering if maybe he had started to feel them too. After all, he was tossing rocks at my window.

All of this is a preface to the fact that this past weekend, he took me on a date. Like a real live, planned, paid for, paired off, the words "this is a date" were vocalized, date. And it was a great date. It was comfortable but still gave me little hints of butterflies. I found myself wanting to be near him, and hoping he asks me out again. He also made a comment, like it was nothing, in mid conversation, that he's gotten to the point where he only asks girls on first dates when he wants to pursue something more serious. Whoa. Does that mean me?

Yours truly,

The Closer

Oh goodness my dear readers I feel as though I have neglected you. You will be pleased to know, or maybe not so pleased, that there are no exciting updates that I have for you. Well actually, I shouldn't suppose to know what you do and do not find exciting, because as I think about it, maybe I do have some exciting news, just not really about dating, or maybe it's a little about dating. How was that for a rambling sentence? Sometimes it's just effective creative process to think on the keyboard, I hope you are enjoying my creative process today.

Where we last left off I was dealing with the conundrum of a secret crush on my man friend named Rex. Over the last couple of weeks I have realized two things. The first of these things is that Rex is not really the type of guy I would want a serious relationship with, we seem to have significantly varied priorities in life. The second of these things is that there is still chemistry there, he is still attractive to me- even if it's in a slightly dorky, accidentally charming kind of way. For the most part now, the attraction feels dead, and he's just another one of the buds, but there are still some moments where I find myself wanting to be holding his hand, or maybe you know, something like, oh I dunno, kissing his face.

With that being said, here is the news that may be exciting, and may not be. I am taking a trip, to Europe, with Rex and two other friends, for two weeks, in October. So exciting! I am quite excited. Did I mention that I am experiencing this thing they call excitement? I am.

There have already been jokes about pairing off in Europe... "jokes". Let's be honest, a little bit of chemistry and two weeks of international travel has got to create a boiling point. Especially because the other two people joining us are basically a couple. You see the problem, is that I am not the kind of girl that just goes around kissing all kinds of boys, I believe myself to be better than a random hookup. (And doggone it, everyone should!). Now you may be thinking, "Wait, why is this a problem?". Well hello! Because of the inevitably chemistry and the near certainty of my gradually weakening state of valor and honor!

Who knows, maybe my weakening resolve won't be an issue at all. He is kind of a big chicken when it comes to ladies, and I do not see myself being the one to try and put any moves on him. But if he does put on the moves, I might just end up as weak and wooed ball of putty. Is this one of those times where I am going to make it happen strictly because I believe it will? How do I convince myself that I can keep from being seduced by the witty and playful Rex a midst the romantic wanderings of Europe?

Yours Truly,

The Closer

Confession: The Closer has tried online dating.

Confession Part II: The Closer will continue to try online dating.

Phew, glad we got the hard part out of the way. Yes. I date online.

Not exclusively, not excessively. Simply occasionally, if someone tickles my fancy.

The first time I tried online dating was almost two years ago. I had a friend that was raving about it, and thought to myself, "A site where I can filter by height? I need to try that". So I hopped online for my first go around. The first couple of dates I went on I was not very wise about. I handed out my number like candy and had the guys pick me up, just like a normal date. Thank goodness I didn't end up as a headline story on CNN with the anchors commenting on how such a seemingly bright young lady could have made such a foolish decision. Luckily, Heavenly Father had my back and I am still alive and well.

So you know how everyone thinks that only weirdos date online? Well, this is simply not true, although, I think some of the weirdest people date online. I kid you not, I once had a date with "that guy" who still lives in his mother's basement and is obsessed with science fiction. I have gotten much better at filtering since then.

I have yet to have seriously dated anyone I have met online, but I have met enough quality people to make me believe it's worth my while to keep it as one more avenue to meet people with. For those of you who have considered it, I say give it a try, and if you decide to give it a try, here are my helpful hints:

Meet quickly. Exchange no more than 4-5 short messages, because trust me, your take on these fellows in person will tell you worlds more than 20 long emails ever will.
Meet at a public location. Don't tell them where you live, this is should be common sense. Food is a good reason to meet up. Protocol for online meet ups is different from a normal date, so I usually plan on paying my own way (although they always win points if they insist on paying).
If you can avoid exchanging phone numbers pre-date, I recommend this. That way, if you meet up and he's not someone you want to stay in contact with, he doesn't have a means to barrage you with communication. If it's going to messy to avoid giving your number, just be okay with the slight chance of having to block their number or change yours (this has never happened to me).
Have a commitment within an hour or two after the meetup, a good reason to have to take off. This keeps the meet up short and gives you both a chance to depart and evaluate what you thought of the other person. Not to mention giving you an out if it's completely awkward.
Once you have met up, try to get away from the online environment as quickly as you can. Hopefully he gets your number, and you get to move forward as if you never even met online, and it's not some odd thing that becomes a constant part of your blossoming courtship.
Do your best not to act like it's weird or unusual that you met online. I think guys feel more self conscious about it than girls do, so try not to accidentally rub salt in his potential wound.
Lastly, always tell someone where you are going and what you are doing. That way if anything were to go wrong (yeah, I know, I sound like your mother here), someone at least knows where you went.

So there you have it. Seven handy hints to make online dating easy-peezy. Like I've said before, it's all a numbers game, so what's one more way to get your numbers up? Heck, I even have three friends that married someone they met online.

What about you? Have any of you tried dating online?

Yours Truly,

The Closer

Well, it's been about two weeks since my date with Mijo, and I think I am safe to say that we are going to stay in the friend zone, and this is a good thing. Ten inches of a height difference would be a lot to reconcile, and no need to worry about that unless it's necessary. Besides, if I'm going to bite the bullet and date a shorter man, I am pretty sure I would want it to be Mr. Manager.

Mijo, Mr. Manager, and Lance (newly introduced), are three of my closest male friends. They are also all considerably shorter than me (more than six inches). One of my favorite/least favorite things about being so tall, is that it makes friendships with short men so easy, and I end up with some great pals. Out of these three, I spend the most time with Lance. He is the social butterfly of the three, he always has something going on... and he also has the most attractive roommates (wink-wink). I am with Lance (usually accompanied by a roommate or four) at least once a week. Sometimes we're all hanging out watching So You Think You Can Dance, other times we're getting drinks at Sonic, and still other times we're throwing around a football.

There is one roommate in particular, Rex, who I have a bit of a crush on. It's the kind of crush that you are not sure what you want to happen with, but it's fun because you always get a little bit excited when you see them. It is probably a good thing that I'm not sure what I want with him, because I think I am very close to turning into/already "one of the guys". To illlustrate my point, here are some things that have happened while I have been present with Lance and the roomies:

Farting (albeit minimal)
Talking about "hot chicks"
Phone calls to girls they want to "get with"
Every guy playing on his smartphone at the same time

Granted, none of these things (except smartphone playing) has been done by Rex, he is still there while they go on. I don't think I would want to completely give up on these hang outs, because they are almost always the highlight of my week, so my question is this: Are there any tips you all have on how to:

Hang out with "the guys" without becoming one of them
How to get some one-on-one time with the friend of your friend (I only ever get to be around Rex in the group, while I'm with Lance)

Any ideas you have would be just lovely!

Yours Truly,

The Closer

Something unexpected happened to me this past week.

Last Thursday night I was driving home and got a phone call from Mijo, who I have mentioned just once before. He and I are great friends, and being great friends has always been easy, because there is a 10 inch height difference. I am 10 inches taller than him.

You may already be able to tell this is going, but I shall proceed regardless. I see his name on the caller ID and I am glad that he is calling. He and I always have fun chats, and I figure he's calling to say hello or tell me a funny story. We chit chat for the first ten or so minutes of the call, and then he pauses and says "I was actually calling to ask you on a date for this Saturday." This caught me completely off guard and I sputtered "Wait... Really?" without even thinking about it. I'm sure that was kind to his ego. He laughed and replied that he was indeed serious, and I agreed to a date.

After I hung up the phone I had a few thoughts. I think I was first impressed that he wasn't letting a silly thing like a [big] height difference keep him from asking me out. Next I was curious- Has he been interested in me all along and is finally acting on it? Did he decide that if we get along so well we might as well try dating? Is he just trying to show me that shorter men can see me as a woman too? (He knows about Mr. Manager's "If you were a girl" comment.) After a few minutes of my brain buzzing with unanswered questions, I issued a cease-and-desist order on all of that, and just decided to go and have fun.

And have fun I did. I had more fun on this date than I have on a first date in a very long time. Every time we were sitting and talking and laughing, I was having a great time. And then it would be time to stand up again, and I would be reminded that I have to stoop down to keep conversation going. That is a weird feeling.

You know how sometimes you are with a guy and you can imagine how nice it would be if he put his arm around you? Try as I might, even imaginary cuddling is awkward with Mijo.

What I am wrestling with now, is what if he asks me out again? It doesn't seem incredibly likely, but do I keep trying? Also, if he doesn't ask me out, how long of him not asking me out qualifies me to be able to talk to him about my love life again? Turns out, it's hard to talk to your date about the other guys you want to be dating. Do I want my friend back? Or am I not giving my friend the potential he deserves?

Yours Truly,

The Closer

For the past week The Lone Wanderer has been gradually easing his way further and further out of clear I-am-trying-to-date-you territory. Whenever I would wait for him to initiate contact, it would be several days between conversations. Then the times when we would talk, things were much friendly, not the fun flirtation that we enjoyed for a few weeks previously. I have to admit, although feeling ignored and neglected made me annoyed, it also was a relief. He and I seem to speak different love languages, and I don't think either of us was invested enough to learn a new language for the other, and that just leaves you with two people that never feel loved.

I finally confronted the elephant in the room last night. I asked him if he was trying to date me or just be my friend, because I couldn't tell anymore. This led to a conversation about the difficulties of trying to date long distance. At this point, I'm not sure that we would have worked even if he did live in town, but I think that was a nice and easy way for neither of us to feel scorned and rejected. It was a relatively painless and adult conversation, ending with the decision to just be friends. I will be curious to see how well we can actually stay friends. On the one hand, we won't have that frustrating chemistry that comes from being near someone you once kissed, or the irritation that comes from watching that person flirt with someone new. On the other hand, the effort required to stay in contact with a once-interest-now-a-friend-who-doesn't-live-here will be harder to find the motivation for, as the excitement of romance has now dissipated. *sigh

Overall I feel good. I think this was a good call, and I'm happy that he and I are on the same page.

This whole experience with The Lone Wanderer has brought me to a surprising realization. When I was around The Lone Wanderer, I felt good sometimes, but I also felt unsettled and insecure and not myself. The day after coming back from Idaho I was in worry-ridden daze. That next night Mr. Manager dropped off potatoes (yes potatoes, it's an inside joke) in hopes of borrowing my crock pot. I brought over the crock pot and stayed to chat with him for a few minutes. Literally within those minutes, I felt light, and happy, and worth a million bucks. It was such a startling comparison. That's how I want to feel around the man I marry. I want to feel just like I do around Mr. Manager. ...Except maybe with more butterflies.

While I was writing this post, I heard the familiar clank of a piece of bark on my window. At least a couple of times a week, Mr. Manager throws a piece of bark at my window before he goes to bed (he lives right next door). I don't know why he did it the first time, but he did, and now he thinks it's funny, so whenever he goes out and sees that the light is on in my bedroom, picks up a piece of bark from the flower bed, and throws it at my window. I smiled when I heard it.

Then there are times like the other day when we were talking and he prefaced a question with "If you were a girl".

IF I was a girl?

I didn't smile when I heard that. I think I glared at him.

If you were me (you know, a girl), would you think you were this guy's BFF and nothing more, or that maybe he was a little bit in love with you back?

Yours Truly,

The Closer

I came back from my weekend rendezvous with The Lone Wanderer about two weeks ago to a whirlwind of questions from the friends that I had told. I don't know that I've mentioned this before, but relationships and relationship-type things stress. me. out. As much as I enjoyed my time with The Lone Wanderer, I felt incredibly anxious when I left Idaho. You know those times when you're not quite sure if you are getting some sort of "warning" or you're just working yourself into a tizzy over nothing? It was one of those times.

The whole drive back my mind was buzzing with doubts and excitement and fears and butterflies. I was conflicted. I was upset that I was so conflicted, because he had told me that he thought the weekend went even better than he had hoped. That must mean that there were no feelings of conflict for him, because I couldn't voice those same sentiments. He also called me a few hours into the drive back home to tell me that he couldn't stop thinking about our weekend.

(Insert smiles mixed with high anxiety here)

What didn't help the anxiety was knowing the whirlwind of questions that I was coming home to. I was silently hoping that I would get home late enough to not see my roommates, and get the night to process what I was thinking and feeling. Luckily I arrived home just late enough for them to already be in bed.

At this point, the signs were telling me that The Lone Wanderer was very much into me. And I was not at all feeling ready for something big or serious with him. We never had a "DTR" sort of conversation, so when people would ask what we were, I would tell them that we enjoyed the weekend and we were still seeing where things might go. Then something odd happened. We went from texting all day and talking every night to practically nothing. There was a stretch of four days where we didn't talk at all. It looked a little like this:

Our contact plummeted, and I didn't know why. Was it because all the excitement got used up for our big meet up? Was he freaking out as much as I was? Was he just busy and I was over-analyzing things?

All this did was add to my stress, and confusion, as well as roll some annoyance into the mix.

You may notice that at the "Now" marker on the timeline, the contact starts to increase again. I finally decided to be a grown up and voice to him that I had noticed that we hadn't been talking as much, and when I wouldn't hear from him until ten o'clock at night, it would made me feel like an afterthought. I voiced to him that it was important to me that I feel like some sort of priority in his life, because if we're not talking, we have nothing- we live in two different states after all. I made sure to talk to him while I wasn't upset, because the last thing I wanted to do was make him feel nagged, I simply wanted to vocalize my needs.

Since that conversation I have noticed an increase in his efforts, and that has been comforting to see.

I still have all of those stressed and anxious feelings from before that I need to evaluate. I don't have that "This is wonderful! Proceed!" feeling. Not that I should, I am just noting that I do not. I also don't have a "Stop! This is the worst decision you could ever possibly make!" feeling. As of right now, I am waiting. Waiting to see if he will still treat me like I am worth working for. If he is willing to still act like he is trying to earn my affections, versus acting like they have already been earned and the work is done. The jury is still out on The Lone Wanderer, but at least my head is more in the game this time around.

Yours Truly,

The Closer

I am sure that you have been dying to hear an update on this exciting news. Alright, alright, I'll give it!

Memorial Day weekend I rendezvoused with The Lone Wanderer in Idaho, wondering if the same chemistry would be there that we had in text and on the phone. The last time I had seen him, we were still friends that hadn't admitted to liking one another. I was so nervous and excited to find out what things would be like now it was all out in the open.

I was there in Idaho for two days, and had plenty to keep us busy. Over the two days we went on a few walks and hikes, and let me tell you, this guy is ridiculous, in a good way. On one of our hikes he would point to almost every plant and tell me about what it could be used for. "Oh this one you can snap off and make a blow gun out of, this one is great for weaving baskets, these berries can be used as yeast, you can make rope out of this bark- here, I'll show you". I now have a six inch piece of rope that he made for me out of tree bark. Tell me any of you other ladies can say that!

We went on a walk by a river and talked about some of our life experiences, how we ended up where we are. It was great getting to know and understand him better with that perspective.

I cooked him dinner at my cousin's house one of the nights, and he loved it. Afterwards we watched a movie, and cuddled.

Anddddddd... we kissed.

Insert smile here.

There was so much build up of expectation for this weekend, that I think we were both pretty worried about it not living up to them, or worse yet, it being a total bust. On my last day there he told me "I didn't think it was possible, but this weekend has been even better than I had hoped for."

(!!!) Insert more smiles here.

I came home to a flurry of questions from the friends I had told. "How was it??" "Did he kiss you??" "What do you think of him??" "So are you guys dating now??" "Did you DTR??"

Geez louise those kinds of questions are stressful, but I answered them all.

So what is going on now with me and The Lone Wanderer? I guess you'll have to wait until next week to find out...

Yours Truly,

The Closer