Well, the holiday weekend has started.  For me it began at 5am this morning when my iPhone repeated announced the arrival of new mail.

The new mail was from all of the women who are taking advantage of the “free weekend” on the dating web sites.  Since they only have four days to find a man, they start early Friday morning with their correspondences and will continue until early Tuesday morning. It is kind of like the Thanksgiving weekend sales.

If this holiday is like the previous ones, I can expect to be contacted by about 30 prospective women over the next four days.  And, they will be frantic to find out as much as they can about me in this short period of time.

Of course, it will take me until Thanksgiving to do the cleanup on all of these contacts.  Then, it will start all over again.

Don’t complain about your job, your boss, your co-workers or any thing else to your date.  In short, don’t complain!  Dating is not about your problems in life, it is about your date.  And, unless you have been dating this person for several months, she probably doesn’t want to hear about it.

There is nothing that turns a date off more than a cheap skate.  If you are going to take a date out for supper, allow her to order whatever she would like off of the menu.  If you can’t afford to do that, then maybe you should take her to a restaurant that you can afford.  But, DO NOT take her to a restaurant and tell her to keep it under $XX.  She will remember the meal but not in a positive way.

All summer long, I have dated over a half dozen women but the interest just wasn’t there.  They were nice and all, but, something was missing.  It just didn’t seem like there was any chemistry.

I remembered chemistry from my past but it didn’t seem to be happening with these women.  Had I lost touch with reality?  Was it there but I no longer recognized it?

I was getting discouraged.  But then, I was introduced to a total stranger and suddenly, the magic reappeared.

Yes!! Chemistry is very much alive and real.  I don’t know if I will ever see this person again but at least I know that I have not been mistaken about the lack of chemistry with the other women.

This weekend is the Metro Cruise in Grand Rapids.  Thousands of people with their classic cars and hot rods are flocking to the city to spend the next few days driving up and down 28th street.  Even as I sit on main street in Lowell, I can see the cars headed for the event.

This, of course, is one of  my concerns about any one who has a classic car or hot rod.  The only reason that any one would own one of these cars is so that they can show it off.  That means that if you are involved with one of these people, you can either plan on not seeing them on the weekends during the summer or traveling with them to the event.

Caveat emptor.

What to do with “no shows” is always the question.  I just experienced that.

Just because someone schedules a second date with you, doesn’t mean that they will actually show up for the date.  I have had many first dates not show up for a second date even though they said that they were interested.

So, I guess you just cut your losses and move on.

Sleepless in Seattle was a nice movie but it was not the real world.  Granted, there are couples who have sustained a long distance romance but those are the exceptions and not the norm.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am still a hopeless romantic who believes that anything can happen.  But, I am also a Calvinist who believes that God has a plan for my life and that if it is meant to be, it will happen.  That means that God will make it happen and not me.  So, I will keep my eyes and ears open to God’s leading.

Sunday is the loneliest day of the week for me.  It used to be that Sunday was the best day of the week for me.

The day used to start out with the two of us sleeping in.  Then, we would get up and have a leisurely breakfast while reading the paper.  After breakfast, we would head to church.  When we returned, we would have our Sunday dinner together.   Then, we would have our afternoon nap.  After nap, we would watch some TV and then get some supper.  Then, we would turn in early.

Now, I sleep in by myself, eat breakfast by my self, read the paper by myself, go to church by myself, have dinner by myself, nap by myself, eat supper by my self and then go to bed by myself.  But, I am learning to adjust.