A Blind Date

I've only ever been on one blind date. My friend, Jami, set me up with a guy named Chris. She worked with him and just raved and raved about this guy. He was a Christian and cute, so I agreed to meet him. The only catch, Jami told me, was he was 10 years older than me. I was 26, so that made him 36. I could handle that age difference, so Jami gave Chris my phone number.

I can't imagine the stress of a guy calling a girl whom he doesn't know, but Chris called me one afternoon and we had a pleasant conversation. We planned to meet at Starbucks on Monday right after I got off work. I was so excited to meet Chris, and I spent the weekend planning the "perfect" outfit. Since I was meeting him right after work, I had to dress professionally for work but cute enough for the date.

On that Monday, I received a text from Chris saying he was really sick and wouldn't be able to meet as planned. However, he still wanted to get together so would Thursday work? I was disappointed, but we rescheduled to meet Thursday, same time same place. I then had to plan a second "perfect" outfit, and that also suspended my nervousness for three more days.

Finally Thursday at 5:30 arrived. As with any date, let alone a blind date, the first few moments were awkward. We ordered and sat down to ask the first date questions. What do you do? Where are you from? Do you have any siblings? Any pets? Etc. We made it through the first hour without a hitch. As we became more comfortable with each other, we began to talk about more serious things and the time ticked away. Pretty soon we had been at Starbucks for two hours.

Then Chris asked me, "So, you're 26. Why are you still single?" I answered and reciprocated the question back to him. He began this long monologue of how he was ready to get married and start having kids right away. He said, "I'm not getting any younger. I'll be 37 in a few weeks. Even if I start dating someone right now, by the time we date, get engaged and then married, I'll be at least 38. We'll have to have kids right away, so that puts me around 39, and that's only if she gets pregnant right away. And I want to have several kids, so that puts me in my 40's by the time we're done."

I was sitting there listening to him plan out the rest of his 30's, and I was freaking out. I was thinking to myself, slow down buddy. Let life happen. Let God's plan happen. I was also thinking that I was only 26, and while I do want to get married and have kids, I wasn't ready for it to happen right then and there. Chris continued to map out his life while I sat there letting my mind drift. After another hour of him talking, I decided I had heard enough. I thanked him for the coffee, we hugged and both went our separate ways. I never heard from him again.

Jami later told me that Chris had asked about me. He said, "I never heard from her again so she must not have been interested." He was correct in that thinking, but I figured he would contact me if he was interested. I didn't realize it was my task to call him.

That date with Chris was in May. By August, Chris was dating a girl and they were married in December. He WAS ready to get married right away. The girl he married had four children, so he got his wish of having kids right away, too.