50 First Dates: Date #3 and a Post-Valentine’s Guest Blog

Since I am now the Taylor Swift of blogging, I have to mention my Date #3, but I am cautious as I write this blog entry. Why? Because Date #3 was actually really pretty great and I don’t want to jinx it. In fact, the date was so fun (and really an easy ‘date’ vibe, which is also nice), and the guy was so dreamy, that I think it is going to set a new standard for my remaining 47 dates/suitors!

So, in lieu of spilling the beans on Bachelor #2 (for now), I am going to introduce a guest post for our 50 First Dates series. It is nice to have a male perspective on the subject of dating, and I am always amused by guest author Luke Williams’ tales. (Remember his other great guest blogs, like this one and this one?) Enjoy!

Honesty: Not Always the Best Policy?

 The Post-Valentine’s Day  Edition

By Luke Williams

Adults are complex beings with a variety of experiences and lessons learned from pre-school to today. Playing fair, not hurting others, and knowing how to say sorry are integral beliefs of my day-to-day life. So how do you approach someone who seems to have forgotten such basic social skills from his or her kindergarten years? Normally, I do my best to avoid that group, but what to do when you discover your significant other falls into the category?
 
This is a question that has been nagging me since February 14, 2011 – Valentine’s Day, which just so happens to be our case study for this blog.

After polling a variety of friends on the appropriate Valentine’s Day gift for a girlfriend of just barely three weeks, I settled on flowers and dinner. Nice flowers, a bouquet of multi-colored daisies, but still just flowers. Didn’t want to say too much with the gift, and also didn’t want to ignore the pseudo-significance of the day (could probably devote an entire post to the detailed conversations of scaling relationship seriousness to appropriate gift level). I prepared the dinner through my own kitchen prowess.
 
Mid-way through preparing the meal I turned to her and asked if she liked the flowers. I smiled, prepared to hear a, “Yes. Thank you. They were great!” Instead, I got a kick in the pants from her actual response of, “No. You realize they weren’t organic?” followed by a lecture on the evils of slave labor, importing flowers, and dangerous pesticides.
 
In under ten minutes my gift to her was transformed into support of seedy South America dictatorships and corporate corruption. (The flowers were actually grown locally in San Diego, FYI).
 
Unless I’m in a situation where constructive criticism is tantamount for success and growth, I usually adhere to the old adage of  “if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” and its my thought that most socially capable people do the same. Plus, I’m fairly sure Valentine’s Day is not one of those constructive criticism moments, in fact it could be the worst day for a couple to engage in the activity.
 
This brings us full-circle to my original question: what course is best when approaching another adult who cannot grasp even the most basic social niceties? Slip a Miss Manners book under her door and hope she takes the hint for her own sake?
 
Or, should I hold my tongue and let her turn into Catherine Tate\’s Nan?

 ###

A huge ‘thank you’ to Luke for regaling us with his tales of dating woes! That really sounds like it should be out of a sitcom! Any fun/funny/bad/awesome date stories you have had in your life? (Let’s keep them PG please, like Miss Taylor Swift does.) Email us!

Until Date #4,

Mara

 

Photo via Txberiu on Flickr.

2 Responses to “50 First Dates: Date #3 and a Post-Valentine’s Guest Blog”

Author comments are in a darker gray color for you to easily identify the posts author in the comments

1. Nicole says:

   March 1, 2011 at 12:46 am

   Luke’s hilarious! Thanks for the guest post.

   Reply
2. Luke says:

   March 2, 2011 at 4:23 am

   It wasn’t funny while it happened!

   Reply