Friday, June 22, 2012

Group. Blind. Date.

Timing is a funny thing. It can be everything. It can be nothing at all. It can be excruciatingly long and it can just fly by us. It ages us. It's a thing... but it's kind of not. It's also just an idea. Time.
Today timing was a key element in making a hilariously enjoyable end to my day.

A couple of my house mates and I were sitting around talking this evening. Annie was cutting up vegetables, Ginny was preparing for her day, and I was sitting on the floor drinking wine (this is what my days have come to). Somehow our talking evolves into these elaborate ideas of... ready?... Group Blind Dates. We were coming up with the most grandiose ideas here. The main idea was that we would each set one another up with blind dates. We talked about prospects of different men for awhile. Who would go with who? Of course we couldn't go into too much detail here. It's supposed to be a blind date. Then, what are the rules? Can we say who we'd like to be set up with in hopes that our fellow room mates would choose that person for us? Can we say who we absolutely don't want to be set up on a blind date with? We agreed upon not being able to give out hints of who we hope for, but certainly we would be allowed to avoid being paired along with someone we are certain we would not go well with. Boundaries, guys. Boundaries.
Then it went on to how the dates would go. The idea of just going out to dinner somewhere is not all so exciting. Would the setter-uppers plan the date as well? Would it be a group date where we all go out together? Would we do a group date first, and then single dates afterward if all went well with the particular date?
Finally the consensus was a date in the city. It starts out with everyone separate (couples together, of course) and we end up in a place to dine together at the end of our day via a scavenger hunt. That way these blind dates get to go through some problem solving together, thus deepening the relationship and finding out if compatibility exists earlier than, say, after the 4th boring dinner date. Wins all over the place.
Now we run into the problem of how to find these men. Do we choose them from our churches? Surely we would then know these guys at least a little bit already if we chose them from a community we already had. Do we choose them from other churches? We'd need a little outside help with that. We've got to choose someone who's at least knowingly compatible in some way or another with the roomie we're setting him up with. We would need a networker. Someone who knows everyone else. Yes. Yes, that would be ideal. Where do we find that?
My mind wandered to all the people I meet at my job. I shared this with Ginny and Annie. "There are a lot of good looking, nice men who come in there that could be prospects, guys." It's true. Then I remembered someone particularly memorable from the night before while I was working. I was working the register and a man walked up to my empty line. I asked if he was ready yet and he told me, almost. He needed to find the applesauce and I could probably help him. Well he was right. I pointed him towards the right aisle and I told him which side it would be down. He repeated me to make sure he knew, to which I threw my hands up in the air and said, "You know, I'm not supposed to leave here but why I don't just take you." A rebel I am, and he pointed that out. To the applesauce we went.
Later on after I rung up a few more customers this man came to my line. Another cashier offered to ring him up but he declined the offer to stay in my line. I thought that was awfully nice of him. It's always nice to finish something you started, even if it's just a small interaction with that girl who helped you at the grocery store.
Once his turn came around we chatted a bit about applesauce and almond meal and what sorts of things you can make with almond meal. It was a relaxing and pleasant interaction.
I told Ginny and Annie that I could set them up with someone like that when I meet people in my line at Trader Joe's. I gave Annie the eye thinking about setting the two of them up, realizing how far-fetched it was, "He was really handsome, with nice blue eyes [wink]. I could tell he was a great guy. Now the only problem with finding guys that way s is it's hard to know about the whole Jesus thing." They both agreed, and we continued conspiring and giggling at ourselves about our Group Blind Date. It would go global! It would catch on and other people would get involved to meet others this way. Man, we're good. We knew it.
About twenty minutes passed by. I poured myself another glass of wine and repositioned myself on the floor in the doorway of my bedroom. Lauren was then home sitting around the dining room with us and, hark! What is that? A knock on the front door. Lauren looked out the window, waved, and let her friend in.
Drinking my wine, Lauren introduced me to her friend who is also friends with Annie, who also knows Ginny. We looked up to meet each others acquaintance and found that... well, we already have met each others acquaintance.
"Waaaait a second," He said, "You helped me find apple sauce yesterday!"