Date 95 - Vertically challenged or Keep Your Feet on the Ground and Keep Reaching for the Stars!

J is from eHarmony, the most painful dating website in the known world. It's totally a pain in the ass. It takes 15 hours of cumulative back and forth smoke signals and note passing before you can directly communicate by email.

J and I had earned the grand prize of "open communication" way back in June but nothing ever happened. I figured he'd be too short for me and I'd be too fat for him to begin with, so no hurries, no worries.

I posted some birthday pics on my profile and he emailed to comment on them. A month later the stars and our schedules finally aligned for our first date.

J was attractive, nicely dressed and well groomed.
He was shorter than advertised, although I expected he would be. He claimed 5'9" but there's no way. 5'5"....maybe! It was like being out with Tom Cruise, minus the blinding teeth and couch acrobatics.

I knew this would happen since most men inflate their height online. This caused me much consternation as I struggled to put together an outfit that would look nice but casual. Something that would be flattering but with minimal shoe height since I didn't want to feel Amazonian. I'm not really sure why guys lie about their height online. Perhaps it's not even intentional. Maybe it's even aspirational: Today I'm about 5' 4 1/2" but one day I hope to be 5'9"!

3 hours of alternatively light and intense conversation, a couple of beers and a platter of garlic crostini appetizers later, the date wrapped up. J was energetic and interesting. I loved hearing about his background, nonprofit work and his tech career, but I especially loved learning more about his art. I really enjoyed talking with him about the artistic process and the challenges that go along with it, like the huge risk involved in taking "the leap" into doing something like that fulltime.

I'm inspired by J -- he's living the life I've always wanted for myself.
Even if the date itself wasn't a match, I still came away feeling good about things. It's nice to know there are people like him out there ... it gives me hope! And when his art takes off as I'm sure it will, I'll be able to say I met him once. That's groovy.