I was in my early, early twenties, a college student doing local musical theatre around Atlanta and dating a bassist in a band. I also sang in my church's choir, and sat by a nice lady named Sharon. Sharon would mention occasionally that she had a son, and I would respond that I had a boyfriend. Eventually the boyfriend and I broke up, and Sharon mentioned her son again. “I think he would like you,” she said, “because you remind me of Mary Lou Retton, and he had a big crush on Mary Lou when she was in the Olympics. (If you don't know who Mary Lou is, don't tell me, because it will just remind me that I am no longer 22. Google her). My motto as a single girl was “hey, free dinner is free dinner” so I agreed to meet him. He would come to our church's Christmas program in a few weeks, she said, and she would make sure that we were introduced.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, she had shown him a picture of me from our old church directory, complete with bad 8thgrade hair, braces, and all the ugliness that goes along with being 13. You can imagine how excited he was to meet me (not at all) and how thrilled he was that he had already promised his mama to come (not at all) and meet this paragon of awkwardness.
We met after the program beside the mule at the Nativity Scene. We started talking, and when we stopped to take a breath everyone else had gone home and we hadn't even noticed.
While every love story is different, I do think that there are some universal takeaways from my own experience. First, don't trust the picture! While a picture is worth a thousand words, if you've ever tried online dating, you know that the camera can be manipulated to make it tell a story that may not be true.
Second, trust your matchmaker! My now-mother-in-law knew what she was talking about, and so do we!
Happy Dating - Amanda Touchton
When are you coming to Michigan! Much needed here!
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