I have tried most of the dating options available. Online from various dating sites, in person, Facebook, being set up. But, let's face it. Unless you decide to date your best male buddy, chances are you are both strangers to start. And people are people no matter the venue you choose to meet them through. I have found that it makes no difference whether it is in person or online. Good and bad happens from both places.

Looking back at some of the most memorable dates of the past 8 yrs. A few do stand out in my mind. Names have either been omitted or changed. Creative license, you know.

Let's go back maybe 7 yrs, when I was new to online dating. A recent widow with more hope than sense. With any dating situation you look for commonalities, and with this man, I found that we both knew the value of Organic produce. He was an Organic farmer and I bought organics, so.....Well the date started off nice. He was a tall man, not unpleasant to look at, black hair, beard, and kind eyes. He asked if I wanted to go on a few produce sales with him to some of the 4 star restaurants in the area. This sounded quite interesting, and I said yes. We met with the Chef of the restaurants and he picked from the back of the van, the heirloom produce that he wanted to use for the evenings offerings. I worked the calculator to determine the price for each vegetable or fruit. It was interesting.

Once we had sold the produce in the van, our plan was to enjoy a meal. I picked my favorite Middle Eastern restaurant. It was in my neighborhood and I was familiar with the area, and when you are on an online date, that is what you want ,familiarity. The first odd thing that happened was, he did not sit across from me in the booth the host offered us. He sat next to me, and put me on the inside. I felt very uncomfortable, but, remember I was naive and new to dating.

This quickly became a problem as this guy had roaming hands. After removing his hands from various areas of my person, I picked up his hand and loudly enough said "NO". That did make him stop with the touching. Had I not been squished on the inside and was I not a bit insecure, I would have been able to tell him to go sit across the table. You know the saying, Coulda, Woulda, Shoula?  I should have immediately stood up and walked out on Roaming Hands Man. Boy, do I have a voice now that I didn't have then!!

We finished our meal and he was driving me a couple blocks to my car. Once we arrived at the location of my vehicle. He turned to me and said, "My momma usually does this for me" and while lifting his shirt off his back he said " Would you please pick the tics off my back?" OMG, this man's back was covered in tiny black seed tics. I was shocked, and grossed out. In fact, I started itching just thinking that I sat really close to him thru dinner and the last 4 hours. My hand was already positioned on the door handle, and while opening the door with one leg out, I replied. "I am going to pass on that! You better get your Momma to keep doing that for you!!" Out the door I flew, ran to my car and took the long way home. I did not want him to follow me in any way. I had my son check my hair and back for ticks off and on for days after. HaHa, I kept having phantom itching!!

This man called me and emailed me for 3 weeks, I never responded, and I guess he just didn't get how awful a first date that actually was. This was just a picture of what trying to date has been like from time to time. I can chuckle about it now, and refer to him as "Tic Man".