Flower power

If you’ve read Adventures in Delicious Dating After 40 for long, you will know I am an incurable romantic. In fact, my YahooPersonals “love profile” assessment labeled me as “Romantic,” which it describes as:

You want and expect it all —- a lasting connection with someone on every level —- mental, emotional, sexual, and spiritual.

You also know I’ve mentioned in several postings (Tips for men, What’s your definition of romance?) how much mileage a man could get by bringing a single rose to the first date. Some readers thought this was corny or clichéd. I don’t, but it hadn’t happened to me — before last night.

Mr. New Guy did so much of what I’ve been preaching I would swear he’s read this blog! He not only kept in contact by email and phone since he first emailed me last week, but he texted me yesterday afternoon saying he was looking forward to our meeting. When he got lost on his way to our rendezvous, he called to explain why he’d be late. He showed up with the aforementioned red rose, nicely wrapped in cellophane with baby’s breath, greenery and a red ribbon.

He dressed in a nice “babe magnet” suede sports jacket (buttery to touch). We had an enjoyable give and take over wine, where he said nice things (he loved my profile photos but they didn’t do me justice, and I looked 10 years younger). (While I know this is classic wooing behavior, he didn’t say these like a player would — accompanied by a smile and a leer.) He asked if I wanted to have dinner, and walked on the outside and opened doors as we strolled to the restaurant. At the end of the evening, he asked if he could walk me to my car, where we parted in a hug and both said “I had a great time.”

Now if he’d only brought the rose independent of these other behaviors would he have stood out? Some. But all of these things together showed me he knew how to date. He understood that the first date was really an audition. He knew how important first impressions are. He got it. He did what he knew to do to get the second date — assuming he wants one. (It might have helped that last month he took a new job, which required a dozen interviews over six months. Perhaps it was fresh in his mind what it took to win someone over.)

Will I see him again? In my follow up thank-you email I said I’d be happy if he wanted to do something again. So far, nothing back from him.

By the way, his YahooPersonals “love profile” assessment is also Romantic. And, according to YP we’re the same personality type too. We’ll see if any of this matters in whether or not he asks me out again.

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