Well good for you!

Hi weary waiters. For the two of you that read the blog, I'm sorry it's been so long. I find that when I have nothing to do, I do nothing most of the time, so it was a pretty dry summer for dating. I took a couple of trips, went to a wedding, visited my family, and hung out in the city, so it was a lovely summer despite the lack of men.

I did have one brief encounter. Very brief. But it was not the kind of encounter that leaves you thinking, "I wonder if he's single" but rather, "I wonder why he said that." I led a Habitat for Humanity trip down South, and we stayed in a parish hall. The first evening we arrived our hosts were hosting a meet-greet-and-admire with an artist whose paintings were displayed in the main church building. They let local artists display their stuff for free for a certain stretch of time, requiring in return a single evening of wine, cheese, and metaprocessing the artist's work. Anyway, they were pretty insistent in their politely Southern way, you know, the type of Southerners who follow an insult with "bless her heart" to absolve themselves of any perceived impropriety or slight, so we went over. I was promptly introduced to an elementary school principal who was in the process of growing out his beard in order to play Santa Claus. Apparently it's his yearly May to December ritual. After standard discussion of our shared profession, the first question he asked me was "How tall are you?" I answered, and he said, "I've always liked tall women." Now this is hardly the first time I've been asked the question and heard this response to my answer, but come on. The guy was prepping to play Santa Claus, there were teenagers present, and we were in a church. Really? I don't remember if he went on to discuss why exactly he likes tall women (we can all imagine what he likes them for), because my mind immediately went into "la-di-da-if-I-can't-hear-you-maybe-it-will-be-less-awkward" mode. I don't know if he was envisioning a May-December tryst in August, but I surely was not.

Maybe this seems an odd thing to stick in one's craw (as I think may once have been said in the South), but as many times as I have heard it, I still don't understand a couple of things. Why did you think I needed to know this about you? What do you expect me to say in return? "Thanks"? Is that an appropriate response? How about "me too"? Actually, now that I think about it, that might solve the problem and would at least change the subject. It's just, no matter what you say, that conversation is now dead. Unless you start talking about all the other tall women he's admired I guess, but I don't know many women who would enjoy that line of discourse. So guys, just keep it to yourself, at least until we know each other well enough that if you say something like, "I love that you're so tall", I can respond with a compliment in kind. Because it's not so much the material that's off, but the timing and delivery.

Well, sorry this wasn't a juicier, more interesting post but some time next week I'll have a post for you about -- drum roll please -- speed dating! And if you have any advice on how to be an enticing speed date, please send it along. So long til then!