Date #2

Saturday afternoon brought date #2. We also went for a bike ride. I guess I made it pretty clear in my dating profile that I like to go bike riding down at the beach. This one met me at the pier. He didn't have a bike with him; he doesn't have a rack on his car. He is 62, younger than my last husband by a few years, but much older than any first date I've ever had. He was handsome, in a sixty-two-year-old kind of way: tall, plenty of salt and pepper hair, good teeth, could walk by himself, didn't wear glasses. (I'm laughing so hard right now. I crack myself up.)

He rented a bike and we rode north. He didn't adjust his seat so he was shorter than I. Again, he was a good talker. He asked meaningful questions and listened to my answers. I thought about what moment I would take to tell him I had lied about my age on the profile. That moment never came for me. Why would I, a woman who tells her five-year-old students her age, suddenly be ashamed of it? This must be a part of me that's insecure. I am afraid of being written off by prospective beaus as being too old. I'm too energetic for the general pool of sixty-year-old males. I am still in a quandary.

We rode to the north end of the bike path and stopped for some water. We sat on the retaining wall in the sun, looked out at the waves and talked some more. Then he said, "I have some bad news. Over a week ago I made a date with another woman on the dating site and forgot about it." Actually I can't remember what he really said about when he made the date or what part of it he did or did not forget. The gist of it was that he had made a date with someone two hours north of here and was going to need to get back on the road in about an hour. I was really ok with that.

It was a pleasant afternoon. I enjoyed his company and he has a good mind. I don't have any read on what kind of person he is. He believes in God, regularly attends his local Catholic church, never questioned his faith, is well-traveled, owns his own home, has just phased out of one part of his professional life and is looking forward to what he'll do next. He just got back from a big trip halfway around the world. His former boss took him and some other former executives, and that boss wants him to help start up a new company with him in China. In the meantime, he is dong a major remodel on his home. He's interesting and smart and I could get along with him really well. Just as soon as I tell him how old I really am.