So much is going on right now that I’m at a loss where to begin really. That being said, this will be a bit of a chaotic entry under the circumstances.

I’ve never ‘played the dating game’ and I don’t intend to start now. Meeting someone who you admire and want to get to know better should be easy.

It’s not that easy.

We all come with our own history. Sometimes the emotional and psychological wounds interfere. For me, abandonment is a wound that goes deep. Fighting it only goes so far.

Trying to be open to whatever Life brings my way is a skill too.

I met someone recently. His name is Bob.

We connected via an introduction from our respective son and daughter (Matt videoed her wedding and Bob was officiating).

We exchanged emails, then texts. Phone calls never occurred as we both were hesitant. During the course of our dialog, I had a few Life Issues come up and pulled away a bit – my text responses were shorter than they had been. I was emotionally overwhelmed with Life Issues.

He then came out to Denver to visit his daughter for Thanksgiving so we arranged to meet the Saturday afternoon he arrived. My pulling away was the first thing he mentioned so I apologized and explained – in painful detail – what was going on. Anyway, I thought we had a wonderful three hours together. During our conversation, we discussed seeing each other for a little day road trip on Friday that we previously talked about before he came to visit.

I reached out via text later that evening and thanked him for a lovely time. His response was very short but did say ‘see you soon’.

On Monday, I sent him an email with an article about military oaths I had read that I hoped he could comment on. I didn’t know if he’d be checking email or not while away from home and it wasn’t anything urgent; just something I had mentioned when we were chatting.

He did not respond to the email. He responded via text with copy/paste from the Army website with the Enlisted and Commissioned oaths. No other comment. Just the copy/paste of the actual oaths (it was clear to me he had read my email).

I was very excited to hear from him so I responded via text immediately saying I was thinking of him and that I wished I had taken more time off work so we could get to know each other while he was here.

His text response was ‘have a great day at work’.

Bottom line is I know something is going on but I’m not sure what. He did mention he was dealing with some PTSD and for me to NOT ask him about it when we met. And I know his daughter’s mother-in-law is difficult and that’s who they are spending Thanksgiving with.

Could it be me? My abandonment issues kicked in big time.

Matt told me to ‘play it cool’; he’s probably busy or just playing it cool himself. In other words, the standard dating game BS.

I thought about that for a two days.

Playing the ‘dating game’ has never been my style and I’m not about to start now.

So today, Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I sent him this email:

That is who I am. I cannot play any kind of relationship game, with anyone.

We agreed when we met last Saturday that we’d get together Friday after Thanksgiving. I didn’t want him to feel obligated if he wasn’t that into me after meeting.

And journaling all of this has left me feeling so much better.

I have to be ME. I have to be true to who I am and how I feel.

If that means I’m alone for the rest of my life, so be it.

Now I’ve got a house to clean and stuff to do before Matt, Ryan and I spend Thanksgiving together – just us – for the first time in a very, very long time.

EPILOGUE

It appears Bob wants a ‘friend’, not someone to ‘date’:

Chloe is Bob’s granddaughter. She’s a very, very special Soul and he’s devoted his life to her since she was born.

Bob is a very, very special Soul too.

LAST EPILOGUE – November 27, 2025

I responded to his email with this:

And I shared a link to this post. Here’s his response:

And I responded with this:

I need time to process all of this.