Date 3 with Mr. Intellect

DATE 3 with Mr. Intellect

For date 3, Mr. Intellect wanted to go outside and enjoy the amazing 85 degrees predicted for the upcoming Saturday.  He asked whether I wanted to know the details of the date or preferred a surprise, I opted for the surprise and only needed to know appropriate footwear and whether I need a puppy sitter.  Comfy shoes and no puppy sitter ;)

He was picking me up at 2:00.  I barely had time to get nervous with such an early time. I went spinning, took my pup for a long walk, and suddenly it was time to get ready for my date!

We headed down to Longwood Gardens – a place I’ve always talked about visiting but have still not made it to.  It’s about an hour outside of the city but conversation flowed naturally in the car.  We walked the garden for hours admiring the flowers, the fountains, and the sculptures.  It was a pretty fantastic place to visit and Mr. Intellect does not fail for interesting conversation.  He was constantly adding fun tidbits or retelling me what he read from the signs in fun and engaging ways since I was way too impressed by the sheer beauty to waste any time reading about anything.  He lingered as we walk and took my hand at a few times while walking.

 

There was a special bee exhibit at Longwood Gardens and he was excited to share it with me following our prior discussion of the Ted talk about bees.  It was a really nice subtle way to show that he was listening when I talked.  As we walked through the gardens – hours passed with lots of laughter and stories from our pasts.

By the time we got back to the city, puppy needed a long walk and we needed a nice rest after all our walking.  We missed our dinner reservations he had made earlier but neither of us seemed to care.  I was dying for a shower after our long walks – feeling more stinky than sexy.  He asked if he could do the same after me and secretly pulled out the most adorable little man bag packed with a new outfit and toothbrush.  After I immediately called him out for being presumptuous he assured me he never travels far without a toothbrush ;)  I stepped it up to a cute dress and heels for dinner and we were off with ambitions of dinner and dancing.

When we finally made it out the door for dinner it was impossible to get a table anywhere in my neighborhood.  9:00 P.M. on a Saturday was going to be a difficult time to eat.  After the in/out of a few restaurants, I finally confided in him that all I really wanted was to grab burgers from the no frills shake and burger place near my house and go home and watch a movie.  The look of relief that passed on his face was perfect – he was way tired too and starving to go anywhere else and loved this new plan.  After scarfing down delicious burgers and fries we went back to my house.  I quickly changed into my cozy yoga pants and movie watching attire.

We watched To Kill a Mockingbird. It was amazing – I haven’t watched that movie since I was in high school.  And somehow it was way better snuggled close in this intelligent man’s arms.  With a greater appreciation of the literary masterpiece and lawyer scenes, we both thoroughly enjoyed the movie.  Atticus Finch is probably the most ideal man ever created and we both continued to comment on his strong integrity throughout the movie.  I cried three different times so enraptured by this movie! 

We drank wine – we made out – we watched another great movie.  He ended up spending the night and couldn’t have been more of a gentleman and offered no pressure to proceed beyond appropriate boundaries.  In my wine stupor, I told him I thought he brain was sexy ;)

He is great so far.  We have plans to go out again this week before I start my travels for the month.  He told me one of the sexiest things about me is my career and he thinks I’m funny.  Both of these things make me so happy.  My ex did not find me entertaining or humorous (or at least not at the end).  And there were so many issues with the way my ex supported/undercut my career choice.  In short, my ex never admired my career or was impressed by my accomplishment.  Mr. Intellect so clearly is and it feels so great to receive that praise.

I’m nervous.  I never intended to find anyone I would want to go on 5 or 6 dates with on my new quest on match.  The point of this adventure was to grow personally and continue to find myself.  The point was to figure out what makes me happy and to get used to getting back into the dating world.  It scares me to feel myself so excited and happy by someone else.  I’ve spent the entire past year learning how to become independent and my walls are high.  Plus I still have not told him a darn thing about my past and I never thought someone from match and I would be having that discussion. 

At the same time – I haven’t felt so happy in a very long time.  I want to fully embrace this moment and these amazing dates as they come.  Appreciate the opportunity to experience new things with a new person.  I finally made it to Longwood Gardens on my third date after trying to convince my ex for 4 years to go with me.  It is evident that Mr. Intellect enjoys planning these adventures which is such a refreshing change from my past that I want to savor it while I can.

Lessons learned so far – I do enjoy Philadelphia area very much.  I do enjoy getting out of my apartment and experiencing nature.  I’d rather go out and do something all day Saturday than sit inside and watch t.v.  Regardless of what the future holds for Mr. Intellect and I, he is allowing me to make great strides in figuring out what I like and increasing my self-confidence and self-awareness.  I prefer day dates is sunshine and nighttime in yoga pants with a good movie.

Date 4 is on Wednesday.  Will be less adventurous as I have set a 9:30 bedtime for myself.  Big work conference in NYC this weekJ