October 1st Date

After our promising time together at Gary's, I thought it would be good to see him again soon.  I checked my calender and saw that I was free the next Friday night, Oct 1st.  I called, and he sounded really happy to hear from me.  That made me feel good!  We made plans for me to visit again that Friday.

He called back later that day and said "I'm so stupid, I haven't really dated much.  I should have told you what a nice time I had with you when you were here.  And we could have slept together."  I thanked him but told him that since I didn't know him well I was more comfortable sleeping in my own room.  But I thought it was sweet that he admitted he felt clumsy with "dating".

I decided that the jeans I had worn before were my lucky jeans, so I wore them again on my next visit.  After I arrived, we drove into Corvallis.  We first went to the best espresso place, Allann Bros coffee at The Beanery and got coffees to go.  Then we went to get the best hot dogs in town.  We took them to a bench by the river, and talked while we ate. 

Next we went to the best gelato shop, which impressed me with being more cosmopolitan than anything I remember in Corvallis from the days I went to OSU.  We sat inside, eating our wonderful gelato.  Gary said that he could picture us having a good future together.  I told him that he was the first man I had met in many years who I could picture a future with.  He asked me when I first thought that, and I said maybe when he invited me to spend the night that first time at his house.  It was pretty romantic.

This happened AWFULLY fast, but it mattered a lot that he is my age, from my home town, we know people in common, and have important shared values.  We both like cooking and hosting - connecting with friends.

Here is photo of Gary's house: