Per request: Lesson learned

I have recently been discovering lots of things about me. This weekend I learned something about my skills at judgment. I will be diplomatic, as I am never sure exactly who in the universe is reading this.

So I met this guy. But I didn't really meet him--like, we didn't talk to each other and we knew each other only by our last names. I wasn't really "impressed", but like I said, 1. I wasn't looking to be impressed by him and 2. We didn't talk about anything. Or at all.

When I got an email from someone and I didn't recognize the name, I thought that maybe it was just another principal from Yuma (I've already spoken with one who is quite delightful) but I was very surprised when I opened it up and found that it was this guy that I had "met" the previous week. He simply stated that if I wasn't dating anyone he would be interested in asking me out. (He must have found me through Facebook, which is only possible because we have a friend in common.) Although this was kind of weird to me and completely abnormal to my life experiences, I had to give him props for identifying something he wanted and going for it. Did I mention we had never spoken to each other? I must be cute...

I agreed to the date and he called me later that week and we scheduled everything for this past Friday. I was SUPER nervous before the date because there wasn't anyone to help me get ready for the date and so I changed my clothes a couple of times and was basically just freaking out a little more than I thought I would be, given that I had a pretty apathetic attitude towards the date. BUT I learned from a friend in the past that I should try my hardest on dates to be the very best date that I can be, so that the other person has as good of a time as I would want to have. (What he didn't mention was that doing that can be detrimental to your plans of apathy...)

He comes and we go. He opened all of the car doors for me, which is always really nice, especially when I get caught in my little spirals of "independence". Conversation came pretty easily in the car, which is good because we drove all the way to Salt Lake. We did the gallery stroll and I learned lots of things: I like landscapes even if they are kind of boring to some people, there are multiple art galleries in Salt Lake (duh), and I can find something positive to say about almost anything, even paintings that scare the living daylights out of me.

This next bit of info needs it's own paragraph: He had art showing in one of the galleries. Because he is the real deal with a master's and everything. I could tell he was totally in his element and that was really fun to observe. We met up with some of his friends along the way and I could have totally become an outsider but I didn't, partly because I wouldn't let myself and partly because they are all such great people, and partly because the baby liked me, and if the baby likes you, you're in. They were never condescending even though I wasn't really "artsy" myself.

I am a great appreciator of art in some respects. I learned on Friday that I "feel" art--sometimes I literally reach out and touch it, but that is rare. But looking at art gives me a feeling right off the bat and some art is confusing or scary. Some of it is happy and peaceful. Some of it is fascinating. I don't have the background or talent to be a critic, but I do have opinions. What I loved is that I didn't have to be afraid to share my opinion, even if right after I said that I liked a painting he said that he didn't. It was just a statement of opinions, not a debate and no one cared. I liked that.

Later in the evening I found out that he had brought some work to show to his friends, kind of like a book club except you talk about your own art. I think that would be pretty scary, akin to me standing in front of a crowd and singing a song, then explicitly asking for feedback. His stuff was good--what do you expect, the guy has a master's! His friends gave comments and then turned to me and asked for my opinion. Insert deer in the headlights image here. And then, like a pro, I started to talk about movement and light and how my eye was drawn from one image to the other. I received an "A+" for my comments.

We drove home, continuing to not talk about the small details of our lives, meaning that I don't know how many siblings he has, what his favorite color is, or what superpower he would enjoy having. But we do have a couple of inside jokes, which are way better than those things anyhow. Small talk is flat and static. We had dynamic conversation.

Because you know me, you have already figured out that I was impressed by this date. So much so that I sent a follow-up thank you text yesterday. I didn't mean to send it right before I got on the freeway after driving home from book club, but that is exactly what I did. So when he texted back, I was freaking out because I couldn't respond for like 15 minutes until I exited (at my destination) and made it to a safe texting place.

The most dramatic lesson I learned was this: I should not judge people that I have never talked to. I am almost always wrong. Let this be the case in point.

p.s. I'm moving a week from tomorrow.