After noon yoga, I made mushroom and eggs, finished with a glass of red wine before we headed to our new friend date in Syracuse. Living in Hawaii, with all kinds of weird and bad foods I found at parties, I learned never to arrive to a party hungry, so we had our home brunch party at 3 before we packed up to meet friends of friends, another connection through my Louisiana connector. These 2 are professors at Syracuse University, and only knowing them through a few introductory texts, it was a pleasant surprise how swimmingly we all got along. They were nice to invite us over for cocktail hour, site unseen, but knowing how first dates go, it was an invite for drinks, not dinner. On the way over, I explained to Scott how blind dates need an exit strategy, in case you get together and realize within minutes that you're not compatible, not wanting spend an entire evening with someone if you run out of things to talk about in 15 minutes.
Fortunately, this was a night that needed no escape. Scott played their baby grand, a piano that came with the house that they've kept in tune just for visitors like him. Chip mixed amazing gimlets while Annie and I covered the getting to know each other basics, and we talked until it was dark before we even made it to the snacks. I offered not to overstay our welcome, and they encouraged us to stay by opening a bottle of rose, and we made new friends by talking openly about how we made it to Syracuse, how we found each other, and they reflected that back by sharing their stories too. We got them to reminisce about their love, them needing that reminder as it’s lost it’s flame lately, and our vulnerability allowed them to reflect it back, making this a beautiful genuine connection that I look forward to growing.