Online date blew me away
I suggested a pop concert; he pitched sushi, smooches
Diane is a 38-year-old industrial designer who lives in the west end. She says “My personal style is put-together and modern, but relaxed.” She describes herself as “funny, humble and ambitious” and says “I run hard and fast when things make sense to me.” She likes eating out, working out and “catching up on Netflix.” Diane is single after being in a relationship for almost 20 years. In a man, she is looking for “physical attractiveness, openness, a sense of humour, independence and shared values.”
After my divorce, I was excited to go on dates, but didn’t really know where to start. I know a few couples who met online, so I thought there was potential out there. Internet dating was in its infancy when I met my ex, and I always thought it must be so much fun to look through those sites, which seemed like infinite pools of singles. The fun faded quickly when I went on and realized that it’s pretty hard to get a feel for someone by reading a paragraph about them, and that there was an enormous amount of people to filter through.
I reluctantly tried a dating app a few months later, based on a friend’s recommendation. That’s where I met Stephen. I liked his bio and I liked that he was also getting out of a long-term relationship. I wished he had more photos, but the photos he did have were good: no drinks, no ball caps. We texted for about a week, establishing a good connection. I waited for him to initiate plans to meet.
We had a day picked out, but no agenda. I saw that a big pop-music concert was going to be in Toronto on the night of the date, and completely on a whim suggested that we see it. I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of that music, and normally concerts aren’t even on my radar, but I thought it would take some pressure off of talking for the whole date. I was also curious as to how Stephen would react to the idea. He said yes immediately, and also suggested we have dinner before the concert. He was going to be my first online date.
I was the first to arrive at the restaurant, and got a text from Stephen that he was on his way. It was nerve-racking, waiting for him. Soon after I saw him crossing the street, in his suit coming straight from work. He looked like his pictures and his description of himself, which I have been told is not always the case. He seemed nice and normal.
Stephen chose the restaurant, which was high-end sushi. The conversation didn’t feel like an interview. I didn’t find it tiring, as it sometimes can be when you have to try to constantly come up with new conversation starters. The waitress had to come back a couple of times to take our order, as we had been talking without paying attention to the menu. Eventually, Stephen asked the waitress if she could bring a variety of dishes to the table, which I thought showed a lot of confidence. The conversation went from good to great. It progressed naturally and never felt strained. We had a lot more in common than we had realized from our online conversations. I also liked that he didn’t seem to be a big drinker.
Once we got to the concert venue, I was pretty excited to be there with Stephen. We were also relieved that the majority of people in our section seemed to be in our age range, and not teenagers. We had some time before it started, and kept talking by the concession stand. As we were talking, standing there, he leaned in and kissed me. It caught me completely off-guard. Leading up to the date, I had been debating whether or not we would hug at the end if everything went well. My “first date” mental image was very different than how this was turning out.
I kissed him back, and we stood there kissing until the concert started. Once we got to our seats, we listened to a few songs, and then went back to kissing. It didn’t take long for us to start kissing every time we looked at each other. At one point during the show, the crowd was supposed to stand up, and we complied, only to continue kissing while standing. We were a bit embarrassed when we opened our eyes a short time later to realize that the song had finished and everyone around us was seated again. We didn’t see much of the concert from that point onward. The date had gone better than I could have ever imagined.
After the date, Stephen walked me to the subway. We continued making out, which was all completely new to me, and made me feel a bit giddy and silly, but I just went with it. We decided that we would see each other again before I left. We were both on cloud nine.
Diane rates her date (out of 10): 10 Want to be a dating diarist? Email datingdiariescontact@gmail.com