A first date

  

Tonight, I went on a first date with a woman I'll call RQS.  I met her on OK Cupid, and we've hit it off quicker than I have with CWS.  Luckily, I have done nothing that could be considered "Roaching".  I have not been physically intimate with anyone for over 2 years now.  And this has helped me determine that MWL and I could only be friends for the long term.  By taking things slowly, we got past the initial chemical attraction phase, and into the phase where two people really start getting to know each other.  And that's allowed me the time to come to a decision.  The same will likely apply to CWS and RQS.

Before the date, I had to look up train schedules for me to get to the museum.  And I had to change into Mario mode before going into the city.  (How I hated having to do this.)  By the time I made it out the door, I was running late for the train out of Croton, so I decided to drive to Pelham.  And if it weren't for my desire to have a snack before going to the museum, I'd have made that train.  Instead, the train had pulled to the platform just before I could get a ticket.  So I ended up waiting 30 minutes before the next train.  Eventually, I got to the museum, and RQS shortly after that.

In the above picture, RQS is about to hit a gong in the Rubin Museum's "Mandala Lab".  (I'm being careful NOT to show you her face, or to describe what she did before retiring.)  From this angle, she could be "any woman".  But a smart person might notice that I am going against my usual type.  She is the first woman since FL to give me a strong signal that she is attracted to me.

As the museum was closing at 10pm, we decided to get a bite to eat nearby, and we stumbled into a place that had my wife's name - this might have been an omen for the evening. Our conversation flowed like water.  Strangely enough, both of us are widowed, and we were having as upbeat a conversation about death as is humanly possible outside the Twilight Zone. (I can only imagine Rod Serling asking an introduction to us having this conversation.) All too soon, the night had to end.  RQS took an Uber home, while I made perfect connections to my train.

It's still too early to tell her about the Marian side of me.  But if things keep going well, I'll have a hard decision to make.  At least, it will be a good one - as long as I don't mislead either of these woman.