Met My Mate Monday - Part II

That fateful evening, I ran to WalMart to buy cat food for my rent-a-cat. Sis Pastor's Wife texted me

He's 31, divorced with a 9 year old daughter

I texted back

And he is CUTE!

The next two weeks before the divorce was final were the absolute hardest days that I faced during the time of my divorce. I have never been prone to depression and wallowing, but within those two weeks I had a friendship end, a tax return to complete with my ex via phone and fax, and it snowed like nobody's business.

I wallowed.

At one point, I was snowed in (still had electric), but I was so alone, I braved the roads to get over to Sis Pastor's Wife's house. She had no power, but an adorable grandson to keep me occupied. I do believe I crashed her and her husband's Valentine's Day dinner plans. Thanks, guys. Someday I'll be able to repay you for all you've been to me.

Fast forward a few weeks ...

The couple who came with Mr Lemon went out to eat with my best friends Thithy and Elvis. Just a casual dinner, nothing special. But apparently they got to talking about me and Mr Lemon, how our previous marriages ended, etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah, and they set us up on a triple date for March 11th.

Except that I knew it was a set up date, and Mr Lemon didn't. To make things just a little more awkward, I was all dressed up to go to church directly afterwards. Mr Lemon was wearing jeans. And didn't know it was a date. He was pretty quiet, but I'm pretty sure that was the last hour he was ever quiet around me. The six of us got to talking, Mr Lemon and I each ordered dessert and tried a piece of each other's dessert. Which was really just a ceremonial gesture because I don't like carmel pie, and he doesn't like key lime pie. Oh well. The ice was finally broken, and we had a good time.

At the end of the meal, I thought, oh well. We can be friends, he's a nice guy. He paid for my dinner, and I thanked him when we stood up. That's when I realized how tall he was. I was wearing my 3" heels already (for church), and I had to look up to him. And shoo, girl, he smelled good too.

Church that night was great, and afterward Mr Lemon and I talked for awhile outside. It was still early March, and cold, but we stood there and shivered.

This is my favorite part - he suggested that maybe he could give me his phone number and I could call him sometime if I wanted. He felt that would be putting the ball in my court, if I was interested, I'd call.

My response? "I don't call guys." And I just stood there. He scrambled for a pen to write down my phone number, and then we kept talking. At that point, I was interested in talking more, but it was FREEZING, so I said, "Hey, let's go to McDonald's and get a drink or something."

We ended up being at McDonald's for about 2 hours, closing the place down. We talked about everything you're not supposed to talk about on your first date. Divorce, children, marriage, our walks with God. Just absolutely poured our guts out. I destroyed my cup lid fidgeting, his brother in law kept calling, Thithy's daughter kept texting (because she saw us sitting in McDonald's when they drove past), and I had to go to the bathroom so bad, but didn't want to stop talking to go. HELLO JR HIGH CRUSH.

That week I got fired from my full time job. That was special. Mr Lemon and I had plans to go to the mall (on a real! date!) the following Monday, but instead I asked him if he'd like to take a single day road trip to visit my family? since I now have so much spare time on my hands?

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. The second time I ever spent any amount of time with him, I made him go meet my parents. Three hours away. I figured, hey, no better way to get to know if someone is a serial killer than to volunteer to let him drive me through Columbus with all the alleys and stuff. Just kidding. I didn't really think that.

We enjoyed that trip so much. And when we got to my parents house, my Dad took him for a ride in his truck to have The Shovel Talk with him.