Online Dating: Take Two

You may remember that a few months ago I set out to find new female friends I could do things with. As I haven't been in the work force for almost six years (and do not belong to any political, religious, or parenting groups) I found myself extremely lonely and in need of a larger social structure.

Coming from a large family that lived in a small town most of my life, I've never had to deliberate set out to make friends - mine grew up with me. So as time went by and I moved from place to place the only friendships I maintained were those I made at my current place of work - which majorly sucked when I no longer had a place of employment.

I utilized craigslist personal listing to make new connections. There is actually a platonic section; though all the posts are not necessarily platonic.

The problem is that the majority of women looking for girl friends (in a non-sexual way) are in their twenties. And I don't want to hang out with someone who feels like one of my kids. The first two 40-something women I tried to hook up with ended up more talk than action and we never even met face-to-face.

My third attempt was Leticia. We've been meeting every Tuesday night for months. She's a stay-at-home mom that would rather be working, an engineer by trade. She writes short stories and has two children. We've graduated to having coffee in her house and I've met her family. I even get little girl hugs when they head to bed. We're both sort of cautious; but I see our relationship slowly evolving.

However, I still find myself without that one "social" friend. Someone that I can go play pool with, watch a movie, grab dinner out.

Out of boredom I checked craigslist again and was shocked to see a woman near my age (cause, is anyone really THAT old?) looking for someone to hang with. She works part-time and has a seventeen year old daughter. SCORE!

We're meeting for dinner tomorrow night. I'll let you know how it goes.