Search and Rescue in West Virginia
We stood on a natural seam – where a grassy spell was stitched to the woods, creating a hem line holding together that where visibility was clear and that where brambles, briar and shadows lay. Megan and our unsmiling search-and-rescue team leader to my left, a gaggle of teenage girls to my right. Even the […]
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Pooling Around
Swimming laps allows my mind will wander all over the place while I pace back and forth, counting strokes haphazardly and occasionally checking to make sure no one is trying to throw a plugged in toaster into the pool.* I discovered this meditative state by accident when I was seventeen. Sometimes I would leave the […]
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When You’re Maybe Not What You Thought You Were
I’ve been thinking a lot about the conversation with our Ohio homestays, Kristin and Eric. Specifically the notion I brought up, that “I can handle frustration, pain, shame and someone making a fool of themselves.” And I have started to wonder if I’ve been oh so wrong about some of my actions over the course […]
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Scenes from a Coffee Shop
Things that are not actually awkward that I feel awkward about when doing them on a date: – Zipping up my jacket – Ordering at a restaurant – Cheese that is stringy – Napkins that have obviously mopped up spilled coffee and are not tucked away – Navigating the process of how to do something […]
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And Then There Was Maine
For the sake of context, I’d like to note that the date I’m about to write up is date number thirty. We’re not at state number thirty since I doubled up on Washington, Illinois and Nebraska, but the fact remains that I’ve gone on thirty first dates. This seems in and of itself some kind […]
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Homestay in Massachusetts
Somedays I feel a bit like Megan and I are Mary and Joseph, wandering the desert/countryside looking for shelter under which to spend the night.* Though Megs and I have a set schedule, it’s all based on my taking a young lad out. So we’re never quite sure where we’ll land come bedtime until I […]
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Interrupting New Hampshire
Once swept away in a twister, Dorothy was no longer in Kansas anymore* and once crossing into New Hampshire, it was clear that I was no longer in the Midwest anymore. How? Manners. (Hold that thought.) Dana, my NH date, was the first admitted single dad I dated on this adventure. For understandable reasons, single […]
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Amidst the Leaf-Peepers, At Least One Person Was Going on A First Date in Vermont
I’ve heard a lot of hootenanny about autumn in New England. Being from California, I thought it was all just a lot of hot air.* So I was dance-in-the-fallen-leaves excited to to learn that those people who gush about autumn in places like Vermont are not exaggerating. If anything, they’re not doing the color flurry […]
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A Nip of Nostalgia
When I was a kid, my brother and I spent summers hunkered down in our maroon van with our parents, touring the country. My family is bit 1970s inclined in a variety of ways, from the paisley shirts my father still wears to the wood paneling in our home, and our means of traveling for […]
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West Virginia
Having Megan on every date with me can be a blessing, but it can also throw a monkey wrench into the thick of the datingverse. When my closest ally is gearing up to cheer on her favorite baseball team in the playoffs while I’m gearing up to go on a baseball-themed date, what worries me […]
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