Grateful

Occasionally (or not so occasionally) in life, things happen that make you grateful that you are living the life you are. This happened the other day when a good friend on mine, "Elizabeth," was telling me about her most recent date.

I have two very close friends that happen to be in their mid to upper-30's and single. Not such a horrible thing from where I'm sitting (usually). They don't have to plan around other people, they can do what they want, etc. I know...it's not all it's cracked up to be, but you know that saying about the grass being greener...? Sometimes, I'd like that freedom...but NEVER enough to leave Hubby or Peanut.

Anyway, Elizabeth has been doing this on-line dating thing with not a lot of luck. She's met a couple of guys with potential, but either she's not into them or their not into her. Last weekend she had another date. This guy sounded really good and they'd had some good conversations (mostly through email I think). Anyway, they arranged to meet.

Well, they met. Apparently, he was late. Not a good start, but he did show up and I'm don't remember how late she said he was. When he showed up at the restaurant his vehicle was in really bad shape (color: primer grey; VERY dirty inside), but she thought, "Okay...it's not a great car and it's got a lot of junk in it but maybe he uses it for work." So, they get out of their vehicles and she realizes she's a bit disappointed in his appearance, but since she kinda knew what to expect (short and balding) she's still ready to give the date a try. During the phone conversation describing the events, I decide to try to be positive and say, "Well, at least he had his teeth!" (You can see where this is going.) Elizabeth doesn't respond. "Well, he did...didn't he?" I ask more worried and unsure as the seconds ticked by.

"No. Well, not all of them," she replies.

"What do you MEAN he didn't have his teeth? Do you mean he had false teeth? Please mean that he at least had false teeth!"

"Nope."

"Oh...well," still trying to be optimistic I push on, "were the teeth he did have at least in good condition?" By this time I'm not sure I even want to know the answer to this. But I could guess it as I'm sure you can.

"Nope." Well, let's just say, the date wasn't a success. To give Elizabeth credit, she didn't suddenly remember she had to babysit her niece or some other pressing event. She went into the restaurant and tried to make the best of it. However, and this is ME speaking, I would personally have a difficult time sitting across from someone trying to eat or carry on a conversation when that person was missing a lot of teeth and the rest were not looking so good.

As I hung up the phone, I felt bad for Elizabeth AND her date. Two people, both 40 or soon to be, trying to find "the one." Elizabeth is wonderful...easy going, fun, funny, smart, and pretty. I don't know her date but was told he was nice and I am lead to believe that he could carry on an interesting conversation (at least through email). However, neither is having an easy time finding someone to spend the rest of their lives with. It's selfish, I know, but it's times like this I feel especially grateful that I'm married to Hubby (he's a pretty good guy...no matter what I say )!