The Dating Project has officially been taken on the road! I decided it would be fun to branch out and meet a guy or two outside of Houston city limits, so I asked my dear friends in Austin (3 hours away) if they could find a fun date or two for me. Tonight was the first with T.R. and the best adjective I can think of to describe him and our evening together is simply delightful. (Is that 2 adjectives? Don't judge.)
Before I get into the nitty gritty, I have to say that as I drove back to my friend's house after the date, I had a similar feeling as when I saw the movie "War of the Worlds" a few years ago. For those of you unfamiliar with the movie, it starts with a crazy alien invasion and then the action stays fast and furious through the entire movie and then it ends. Abruptly. There is no rise and fall of pace, and when I walked out of the theater I needed just a moment to process what I had just seen, as there had been no slow parts for processing during the movie.
After the observatory, T.R. drove us to a local restaurant called Kerbey Lane that's a big hit with the local college kids. It definitely had an Austin flare, which I love. The food was good and the conversation even better!
T.R. has been a therapist, specializing in working with youth, and is now going to school to get his Ph.D. (for the record, I *just* realized as I typed that abbreviation that I have no idea what it stands for. I just know people who have it are smarter than the average bear, and some of them are allowed to prescribe me medicine when my sicknesses haven't gone away after 2 weeks) ANYWAY, T.R. is fascinated by people and how they work and interact and what drives them. Basically he's made a professional career out of what fascinates me as well, hence the fast and furious conversation all night. The topics of conversation were anything but superficial and we both found ourselves making new thought connections and having "a ha" moments with one another. It was really refreshing for me to spend time with someone where no small talk was had, we could just jump into the good stuff right away. And I really appreciated that T.R. was genuinely interested in my experiences and thoughts and opinions. He asked great thought-provoking questions all night.
Another great thing about T.R. was his willingness to take the reins. To be fair, this project is all about us girls taking initiative, and it is really fun to plan unique and exciting activities, but man it is a LOT of work! T.R. was generous enough to give me a little break. He planned the activity and picked the restaurant, and he chose well I must say. The telescope experience was lovely, and I appreciated that he put thought into giving me a unique local dining experience. He was also a total gentlemen, complete with opening doors and paying for dinner. Just as a side note to any men who might be reading this, if you don't do those things it's ok, women can survive without them. But I will say that when you do them we notice and most of us love it. Ladies, make sure you tell the chivalrous men in your life "thank you" when they are gentlemen, I don't think we show appreciation enough.
The night ended as it began, with a hug in the parking lot of T.R.'s apartment complex. There was no real winding down, we just talked until I reached my car and then said goodnight. Thank you to my Austin girl friends (that means you, Kendyl and Heather, my Little Lovelies!) for finding an interesting, wonderfully quirky, "insta-friend", handsome man for me to spend an evening with! And thank you to T.R. for being such a willing and fun participant in this crazy dating journey of mine! Until next Tuesday, this is Jessica signing out.
(This quote I found on campus seemed fitting both for my life, and for this night full of philosophizing!)
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