Last night I got a message from a friend that I haven't seen for a while. She wanted to let me know that she'd matched with my ex-fella and he had asked her out. She hadn't gotten the memo that he's my EX fella, and wanted to do me a solid. I thought that was extremely sweet of her. Turns out, they'd matched before as well... and timelines kinda overlap. So... yeah. From now on, when I think someone is being shady, I'm gonna go with my gut. Perhaps the "pink" flags were only "pink" because I'd decided they were. I don't regret much except letting it go on longer than it needed to, but it was nice to take a break from dating for a while. It's also been nice getting back into dating, which leads me to my next thing.
My co-workers have always been invested in my dating life. Before I moved back, they were thinking of getting me and a co-worker together before they found out that he was no longer single. This amuses me to no end, so I tend to keep them updated. It was a new co-worker who suggested that I try Hinge this time around, as that's where she met her now-husband. However, there are two co-workers in particular I want to share with you: our receptionist and our safety lady.
Our receptionist is super sweet, got married when she was young to someone she met at work, and so is not experienced in online dating at all. Most of what she knows about it comes from her 2 daughters and the news. So she's rather invested in keeping me safe. So much so that she insisted on giving me her phone # this week so that when I go on a date, she can text me to see how it's going. We even decided on code phrases. She'll text me about a work issue and if I answer in the affirmative, that means things are going well, neutral is we're not quite sure yet, and negative is "call me with an emergency, I need to get out of here NOW." She's even offered to stand by with pepper spray in case of the third scenario. It's super sweet and I'm grateful to her for it.
The other day, our safety lady came into my office and we were talking about online dating and what I'm doing to try to keep from being on the news. I told her that first dates are always in a public place, we arrive separately, we leave separately, I make sure he leaves the parking lot first so that he can't follow me home, etc. She suggested that I download the Life 360 app and make a "circle" with my bestie, our receptionist, and anyone else who would be able to call for help if needed. I joked that any decent serial killer will know the first thing to do is ditch the phone (I'd hate to think I'd match with an AMATEUR). She admitted that was true, but if I told someone I was going to X place and my phone never arrived there, they could alert the authorities. I conceded that this was a good idea and joked that maybe the "stalker" app had its purpose. She quipped, and I quote "Not all stalking is BAD!" We both cracked up laughing at that. Our safety person, ladies and gentlemen... not ALL stalking is bad. After some more chat, we came up with "Stalk for Safety" which I think should be Life 360's tag line/motto. I told the receptionist about this and she went "I ALMOST suggested that to you, but I didn't want you to think I'm some kind of crazy lady!" It's nice to know that not only are my co-workers invested in me finding my forever person, they are also invested in keeping me off the news.
So that's my story. I love the fact that my friend wanted to make sure I knew what was going on with someone she thought I was still involved with, and I love that my co-workers are doing their best to ensure my safety. It's been interesting going through the app to see who has "liked" my pictures and what they have said about them. One guy was super sweet with his comment, but I didn't match with him because his profile stated that he wants kids. And for someone who has always said I don't really have a type, I tend to match with big, bearded guys. So maybe I do have a type... lumberjack is a type, right? LOL. Guys who put pix of their dogs online are TOTALLY stacking the deck. One had TWO CORGIES!! They were SO CUTE!! I'm trying to keep myself from being burned out with it. I'm limiting my time on the app (and I only get so many free "likes" a day, so that helps). I'm also being more sparing with my "likes" and matches. I think I'm getting better at figuring out the players and the potentials. Maybe... we'll see. There has to be someone out there... maybe it's tonight's date, who knows?
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