When you have dated as many people as I have (gosh, that sounds way worse than I meant it to), I guess it’s not surprising you bump into them from time to time (even in a city as big as this)…like this week!
I was at dinner with my honey (I know, I need to explain but it’s coming) and I go up to the counter to get something and who is standing there but number 16–you know, my professional dater (at least he should be, based on my date with him). He recognizes me but doesn’t remember my name (major point deduction here) and asks me how I am doing. I tell him I’m fine and he asks where I am sitting and I point in the general direction, but my table is blocked by a wall so he doesn’t see my boyfriend sitting there–and he ends up sitting almost directly across from us! Just a bit awkward!
The next day, I am at an information session for a group I am involved with and sitting in the back of the room is another man who looks so familiar. As the presentation goes on, I am racking my brain trying to remember who he was and it finally comes to me (4o minutes later!)–he is a guy that Vix and I were talking to at the mixer where I met my honey! I never made eye contact with him, so I’m pretty sure he didn’t recognize me but I couldn’t wait to get in the car to call Vix and let her know!
K also went on a date once and ended up sitting next to a group of men at the bar that included someone she dated twice–it didn’t help the awkwardness of the situation to have her date call these guys “tools’ because of how they were acting. No, she didn’t tell him she had gone out with one of those ‘tools’–she and the guy just silently acknowledged each other and she got home and sent him a text confirming how weird it was to see him under those circumstances but he didn’t even answer it…
Seeing a date out of context is kind of like being a kid and seeing your teacher in Target–you wonder what they are doing there like everyone else! You tend to forget that all of these men have lives, jobs and interests outside of dating (well, at least you hope they do) and seeing them in the everyday world is just a bit strange! This may be the best reason to never burn your bridges with your dates–or that one will be the one you bump into when you least expect it!