Texting Houdini

This was by far the WORST dating (or non-dating) experience I have ever had.

I met the Texting Houdini (TH) online. We emailed a few times back and forth and then it progressed to text messaging. In hindsight, (ALWAYS 20/20!!!) a guy who is not willing to actually pick up the phone and call is not a good sign. Sure, maybe he is shy, I thought to myself--at first...

We texted back and forth and I tried to engage him in some form of conversation so that would actually lead to a phone call and potentially a date. Interests, hobbies, we vigoriously texted one night--I asked him if he was a red wine drinker or a white wine drinker. "red" he responded. "And u?" Red, always red wine. White is nice in summer with fish. (I love to cook salmon and drink white wine.)

He set up our date via text. This should have been a flag for me, but so new to the online thing, I overlooked it. We decided to meet for church first and then go out to lunch afterwards. I thought to myself, this is a great start to a relationship! Going to church!

As the service started, we chatted a bit here and there. As soon as the sermon began however, TH stated that he "would be back in a few minutes." Maybe he had to pee? I sat in the entire sermon alone. He made his re-entry in the last few minutes as the worship and sermon were wrapping up. Odd. He missed the ENTIRE sermon. (Another flag, and yet I ignored it.)

As he walked me to my car, we agreed where to meet. "I was thinking CPK, since it's closer to where you live," he said. "And also, you can have your wine." MY WINE??? Another flag went up but I couldn't decipher the color. Who drinks wine at lunchtime on a date? I thought this was an odd comment, but I chose to ignore it. " CPK is great, " I said. "They have some great salads." MY WINE??? I was still swallowing that insert.

We hopped into our respective cars and headed out to CPK. As I pulled into the parking lot, I received a message from TH reading: "Hey, a friend needs me to pick him up at the airport right now. Sorry, but I have to cancel. Call u later." WT HECK? I guess he figured I would sit at CPK with my wine and forget about him. Maybe I should have.

I went home feeling soooo rejected from my non-date. As soon as I got home, I had a message from another guy for dinner that night, which lifted my spirits a bit. I guess you could say that I had a "double date header", but I still consider the first half of that Sunday a non-date.

LESSON LEARNED: Date a guy who wants to pick up the phone and get to know you before you go out with him.