aja8888
Moderator Emeritus
First of all, thanks to everyone for the advice and kind words! You are all great friends. 
Well, the date is over and here’s the detailed recap:
I picked her up at 6:00 PM on the dot as planned (I sent a text on the way telling her my GPS said I would be there at 5:58). She quickly replied “the outside lights are on” (it's getting dark early here) She invited me in to meet her dog Max and wait for a minute so she could gather her things. She has a beautiful house and is nicely furnished from what I saw of it.
So we went to the Longhorn Steakhouse and we had no wait time seeing it was Sunday night. We were seated quickly. We chatted small talk for a bit then ordered. I remembered what someone here said about having one mouth and two ears so I asked her about her children and how they were getting along. That was a good question as she talked about her daughter that has her own business and one daughter in Massachusetts who is a school teacher, etc.
She has a large family; two sons, two daughters, all married and doing well. They also adopted a daughter many years ago and she is now living in Kansas, married, and doing well. Plus she has a good number of grandchildren. One son and daughter live nearby and are very close to her. I got the feeling they are very cautious (maybe protective) about her getting into the dating life after decades of marriage to a great husband and father. He passed away two years ago in Decemeber.
We had a nice dinner and when the waiter came he immediately handed me the bill, which I took and started to look at it. She quickly asked if she could help pay part of the bill and I said since I asked her out, I felt I should pay it. She said, OK, but the next time, she would like to split the bill. I said if that’s what you want to do, it’s OK with me. She seemed very satisfied about the future arrangement. And it appears there will be more dates and time spent together. That went well. Thank you all here for the advice on how to handle this.
So I took her home and she invited me in if I wanted to stay for a while. She gave me a full tour of her house, which is way too big for a widowed lady and still full of mementos of her children's upbringing and her deceased husband's hobbies and accomplishments over the years. She did not dwell on any of that stuff. Apparently, her and her husband were the center of activity for the whole family as there are family photos everywhere and projects that children made in school, etc. She has a sewing room where she made a lot of the daughter’s clothing over the years and still makes clothing and other things for the granddaughters. Ironically, my deceased wife was big into sewing for decades also and did pretty much the same things.
While I was there, she was receiving a few texts from her daughter (I presume), probably checking in to make sure she was OK. I also think she got a text or two while at the restaurant on her iWatch as I saw it flash and she glanced at it and sent a quick reply.
So I had a cup of coffee with her and we chatted about this, that, and everything else for an hour or so and then I left. Shortly after I got home, she sent me a text to see if I made it back OK.
All in all, I think it went well. But I don’t have a clear idea where it will go from here. She’s such a busy woman and helps her daughter with her retail business, volunteers at church activities, does craft work and sews, that she barely has time for anything else, at least that’s my impression. Over the holidays she has arranged for the whole family to be here to celebrate and see each other. That will be a big crowd and some coming from Mass and Kansas. Apparently, they try to do this every year.
So it appears I made a new friend who will be interesting and fun to spend time with.
Well, the date is over and here’s the detailed recap:
I picked her up at 6:00 PM on the dot as planned (I sent a text on the way telling her my GPS said I would be there at 5:58). She quickly replied “the outside lights are on” (it's getting dark early here) She invited me in to meet her dog Max and wait for a minute so she could gather her things. She has a beautiful house and is nicely furnished from what I saw of it.
So we went to the Longhorn Steakhouse and we had no wait time seeing it was Sunday night. We were seated quickly. We chatted small talk for a bit then ordered. I remembered what someone here said about having one mouth and two ears so I asked her about her children and how they were getting along. That was a good question as she talked about her daughter that has her own business and one daughter in Massachusetts who is a school teacher, etc.
She has a large family; two sons, two daughters, all married and doing well. They also adopted a daughter many years ago and she is now living in Kansas, married, and doing well. Plus she has a good number of grandchildren. One son and daughter live nearby and are very close to her. I got the feeling they are very cautious (maybe protective) about her getting into the dating life after decades of marriage to a great husband and father. He passed away two years ago in Decemeber.
We had a nice dinner and when the waiter came he immediately handed me the bill, which I took and started to look at it. She quickly asked if she could help pay part of the bill and I said since I asked her out, I felt I should pay it. She said, OK, but the next time, she would like to split the bill. I said if that’s what you want to do, it’s OK with me. She seemed very satisfied about the future arrangement. And it appears there will be more dates and time spent together. That went well. Thank you all here for the advice on how to handle this.
So I took her home and she invited me in if I wanted to stay for a while. She gave me a full tour of her house, which is way too big for a widowed lady and still full of mementos of her children's upbringing and her deceased husband's hobbies and accomplishments over the years. She did not dwell on any of that stuff. Apparently, her and her husband were the center of activity for the whole family as there are family photos everywhere and projects that children made in school, etc. She has a sewing room where she made a lot of the daughter’s clothing over the years and still makes clothing and other things for the granddaughters. Ironically, my deceased wife was big into sewing for decades also and did pretty much the same things.
While I was there, she was receiving a few texts from her daughter (I presume), probably checking in to make sure she was OK. I also think she got a text or two while at the restaurant on her iWatch as I saw it flash and she glanced at it and sent a quick reply.
So I had a cup of coffee with her and we chatted about this, that, and everything else for an hour or so and then I left. Shortly after I got home, she sent me a text to see if I made it back OK.
All in all, I think it went well. But I don’t have a clear idea where it will go from here. She’s such a busy woman and helps her daughter with her retail business, volunteers at church activities, does craft work and sews, that she barely has time for anything else, at least that’s my impression. Over the holidays she has arranged for the whole family to be here to celebrate and see each other. That will be a big crowd and some coming from Mass and Kansas. Apparently, they try to do this every year.
So it appears I made a new friend who will be interesting and fun to spend time with.
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