Your place or mine?

Dating is a relatively new concept for me. I strapped myself into a marriage at only 20 years old and while I'm inclined to use the term "stupid" when describing my decision, stupid is not wholly accurate. Marriage was what I wanted at that particular time in my life and the man that I married, well I was so blindly in love with him---not even a freight train could not have stopped me. Alas, one of the most beautiful and bittersweet things about life is that it's full of change and in the end---I changed, he changed, and it ended. Since my divorce, I've had the opportunity to learn how to be single for the very first time in my adult life. And dear sweet God---how I've needed it!

If I took the time to really discuss my dating life, how I've grown, how I learned to be content, what I'm looking for...yada yada yada...I could sit at this computer for hours and bore you to death with my emotional epiphanies (although I know my soul mate would love it)!

So instead of boring my readers, I'll keep it to the basic facts: I'm single. I do occasionally date & enjoy the company of men. But most importantly, I'm ridiculously happy sleeping alone in my twin bed, inside my trailer, underneath a sleeping bag, and with only my two cats by my side! :)

While I've promised not to go into details, I did want to share with you how the addition of Terry in my life has made for some very interesting dates. Take the time I was wined and dined by a successful man in the real estate industry. For the sake of this blog, I'll call him "Mike". Mike and I spent the night going from restaurant- to restaurant- to bar, where he graciously footed each bill and told me men should always pay for the first several dates (for a girl who lives in a trailer, I say YES--MEN SHOULD!).

I found Mike to be very intelligent, classy, and like most men I seem to date these days--his shoes were better than mine (this is the huge downside to dating metros, they dress better than you). Drinks and conversation flowed effortlessly, until about mid-date when Mike looked at me very seriously and said "I know about Terry".

"What?!!?!" was the only word I managed to mumble as I tried not to choke on my sushi. I was completely floored by his statement and my mind was racing..."how does he know about my trailer??? I didn't tell him...or did I??? hmmm...is he a stalker? Wait...how....OH MY GOD--HE MUST HAVE GOOGLED ME!!!"

It felt like the longest thirty seconds in the history of dating before my brain finally clicked and I responded by asking if he had found this blog. He said he had and that he'd seen my Europe blog as well. Wow, what a dummy I was to think that men don't google women they meet off the internet. Of course he would have googled my name to see what he could dig up in advance. The real problem here was me--- what the heck was I doing by not googling him!??!

Some people think my blog should be private in order to avoid the situation I experienced while on a date with Mike. However, I like that my blog is public. I don't put enough personal details to identify where I live or work and I want people to access my blogs without a login. While I might have been surprised during my date, I'm not ashamed of my life or where I live---it's just not something I generally refer to in my opening line.

I've not seen Mike since our one and only date--so if he's continuing to google me, I'll say this for the record: Thanks for the fantastic night out! But no thanks.... :)

For any future men that I might date and have googled me, let me also set the record straight in advance: I own a trailer. My trailer's name is Terry. And try as you might, Terry is not going to be "rockin" from anything other than my poor dancing skills. Terry, Kudos, Harley and I are quite content in the woods alongside my parents house, even with the coyotes and deer. Should you pose the question "your place or mine", you'll NOT be getting this response:

"Oh yeaaaaah baby, you can come check out my trailer..."

But I'll welcome a dinner out! HAHA! :)

-Jenny