Back in October 2007, I was very involved in the Hillary Clinton campaign. I had signs, posters, books, everything Hillary. I met her, went to rallies, got her books signed, and attended at a VERY close proximity her headquarters when she won the state of PA in the primaries.
I come from a family that was/is involved in politics. Growing up, I used to think my father and his father hated each other because after dinners on Sundays they would sit in the living room and have heated discussions about Ronald Reagan. My paternal grandfather worked in the government in a foreign country and was seen in many pictures with the country's leader. One of my first memories as a child was staying home with my dad to watch the Iran Contra Affair...like probably every other 5 year old did in the early 80's...right???
So it was fitting for me to attend the debates that were held here in Philadelphia of the democrats when it was the whole gang (Edwards, Obama, Clinton, Kusinish, Biden, etc..). Before the debates, I met a guy who was a reporter for McCain. He was handsome, and obviously smart. We strike up a conversation on the steps of the building. After the debates, we walked a bit and ended up talking for about a 1/2 hour. We exchanged business cards and that was that.
About a week later, I receive an e-mail from him asking to go to dinner. I said yes and we made plans for that Friday. When the day came, as usual, I had no interest in going, but threw on some makeup, and heels and went.
I knew as soon as I walked in that I wanted to leave. The restaurant was NOT smoke free as the city was at the time and made my eyes water. When I walked in the door I had to pay a $10 cover as well. I had small hopes that "maybe" he would not be there. Oh, but I was wrong.
He was standing there and told me, "I have taken the liberty of getting us a table." I agreed and we sat down. The waitress takes our order and I order my staple "gotta-get-through-it" drink of gin and tonic. He ordered a Magners because he "didn't want to get too crazy". She explained the specials and he made it seem like he was ordering for his Last Supper. When she left, I asked him what he does and why he picked the place he did to live (he lives in a nice suburb of Philly, but VERY family neighborhood and he was a single guy). He explained to me, that at 34 he lived at home with his mom and dad by choice. His mother was a "homemaker" and his dad was a computer guy. His mom cooks all of his meals for him in a balanced way, as well as does his laundry. Immediately, I wanted to leave. This would never EVER work. Not even a little bit. I burn my hand/arm making Elios pizza for God's sake!
Our food came and I kept ordering some gin and tonics and he switched to coffee with 9 sugars in each to which is proceeded to spin his cup while he was talking. When I asked him if he was a serial dater since he was single, he told me that "I can see how one can misconstrue that but that is not the case. In all actuality, I have never been priivied to the touch of a female." as hard as that sentence was to read for you, imagine sitting across from the table when that was being said. As more came out of his mouth, he explained that his craziest moment in his life was his sophomore year of high school on stage crew when he and his friends walked to a pizza place eventhough they had cars.
We had other couples around us STAYING to just see how this played out. When he went to the bathroom, I sent a mass text to all of my friends with the words, "he is a republican virgin who lives at home". EVERYONE was loving it! When the bill came it was placed on the table I reached for it, as I was ready to BOLT from the restaurant. He then offered to pay and I ask him, "Are you sure?" to which he said, "well, at least let's split it." I threw down the money I had left from the cover I had to pay and stood up. He sat spinning his coffee cup over and over without looking me in the eye. He half stood up to bid me fare-the-well and then sat back down to finish his cup of coffee.
I left with a great deal of relief and went to my friend's house for a few glasses of wine to rehash and recap.
This is one of MANY interesting date stories to come...
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