I met Chris for a coffee at a little bakery in Camberwell. Camberwell is a busy little suburb close to the Melbourne CBD and is known for its cafes and the Sunday market. The Sunday market holds great prospects for a plant enthusiast like me, and the warm jam donuts served there are to die for. The key is to get in early so you can get your hands on freshly fried warm sugar hits!
As its COVID days, Sunday market was sadly closed, so no yummy jam donuts for us, but we got into the bakery. I got a parking spot just outside the bakery, and watched him walk in. He seemed to just walk right in and queue up, so I went in with a “Hope you haven’t been waiting too long?”. I was on time and that was a stupid question to ask since I had seen him arrive just then. But then, I am nothing if not clumsy, awkward and often lacking the communication charm women seem to just have. He looked at me quizzically and said, “I literally just got here 10 seconds ago”.
We got a table and ordered our drinks. It was good to just have coffee and not be pressured into ordering food as most other cafes have been doing. It’s taken a toll on my ever-increasing waistline, the necessity to order food with drinks if we must dine in – another COVID rule.
The first think I noticed about Chris were his arms, I reckon his biceps would be about 3 arms of mine put together and he was quite happy to put them on display. He got a hot chocolate as I got an almond flat-white. I am incapable of ordering myself an almond flat-white without thinking of Edward and him mocking me for juicing almonds to make a coffee! Even teapots remind me of him, as he cannot work his way around weird teapots. I will have to cover Edward Frankle off in another chapter, seeing as I tend to think of him so much, even when on a date with another lovely man!
The date with Chris was good, like chatting with a friend. He was a particularly good conversationalist and was a good listener, paying attention, asking questions and all the things a woman wants a man to do.
Chris is single, 43 never married, no kids, no plans to do either. He is well travelled and wants to travel more. He was fascinated with my cultural background and wanted to know more, which alas I can never shed much light on, given that I don’t know much about my own culture. He was very polite and wanted to know a lot about me as a person; and bonus, he did not delve into the usual online dating questionnaire set around what I want from this potential relationship, why I don’t know what I want! That always helps, as I have no clue what I want from relationships, or life in general, other than, living a happy fulfilling life! It was an easy conversation, with each sharing and listening and I had such a fabulous time.
He dropped his hot chocolate at one point, and I did a victory dance in my head as it’s usually Yours truly being clumsy. I gracefully stood up and got him tissue and saw him check me out as I did that walk to and back from the counter. It was just a casual coffee and may never amount to much, but it felt good to be regarded as a woman after so long.
Long term relationships have a way of killing that – the desirability men feel for women. I may never want to be in a complacent long-term relationship I thought in that moment. Perhaps I could just become a serial dater, soaking up the adoration!
The coffee shop asked us to leave unless we were going to order. We had been there for an hour with just a coffee to show for, so we went for a walk. Chris is tall, but I was in boots and ended up being slightly taller than him on the day. I wasn’t sure if that was attractive to him, but cannot do much about that being a tall woman now, can I?
We must have walked for about an hour, and he was very thoughtful, and kept asking me if I was okay to walk in the boots, as they did not seem to be made for walking. He was attentive, funny, and shared some delightful stories. He works two jobs doing visual analytics and is an ace photographer. Anything involving data always piques my interest, so he definitely turned out to be the pick of the day!
As I was in just a 2-hour parking spot, we made our way back to the car, hugged and he asked if I would like to do this again. Of course, I said yes!
I went back home a happy woman, a first date after a decade and a half could not have gone better for me and I was happy he wanted to catch up again, as I really enjoyed our chats.
I felt like a beautiful woman who made interesting conversation and was worthy of spending time with. A man holds the power to make a woman feel good about herself by just spending some time with her, mind blowing!
He asked me out again to catch up for drinks, but Victoria went into lock-down the weekend after, so we had to put a pin in those plans!
That one date with him built me up so much that I have seen a return of the flirtatious me from the 00’s! I am happier inside and a bit more me. May be all I need is to do to feel like a woman again, is to go for coffees with lovely, gorgeous men who can communicate!
I Love Me 