What makes a great date?

As you know so many of my dates are absolute disasters but occasionally there are glimmers of hope when things do come together. 

I hadn't met Oscar* before. We had been set up by a mutual friend. His logic behind our suitability was "you're both desperate so it seems like a good match." He wasn't joking. Of course I wouldn't have described my situation in those exact terms but nevertheless I agreed for him to pass my number along to Oscar. 

Within a couple of hours Oscar and I were on the phone having a great discussion. He rang me almost immediately. It was like Oscar knew that the ten digits of my phone number were precious and should be used with urgency. Tick.

Very quickly into the conversation Oscar took the lead and suggested we meet up for dinner. He made his intentions clear and we locked in a date. There was no fussing around with Oscar. Tick.

He asked what types of cuisine I liked. Oscar was putting me first and thinking about me! This is too good to be true. Tick. 

While trying to hide my picky eating habits, Oscar agreed that he would find three options for dinner and then I could decide which one we go to. Tick, tick, tick!

Go Oscar!

This seemed far too easy. It was. On the night of our date, I followed his exact directions to the place he recommended we park....I got so lost that he literally had to find me! He found me and didn't seemed put out by my geographical impairment. Tick. 

Oscar was totally gorgeous and he was dressed immaculately. He seemed a bit nervous which, on this occasion, I liked because it seemed like he could be interested in me. Hopefully!

Oscar had made reservations at a lovely restaurant in Darling Harbour. I was impressed. Tick. 

I felt a bit uneasy because it was quite an  expensive restaurant but I was very happy to be there with him so felt it was worth the investment. 

Oscar was chatty and we had a lovely time there together. As he was taking, his words were floating over me and I recall looking at him and being grateful that I was there with him in that very moment and being so grateful that he was not anybody else.

There wasn't a single moment when I started to plan my escape route or creatively wonder about anything about him that didn't make sense.  Oscar wasn't even a little bit weird!

In fact Oscar was upfront, transparent and for once, everything made sense.  I had a flicker of concern, that like many of my other dates, I may not see Oscar again, this made me sad yet I consciously realized I should enjoy the moment. 

When our dinner arrived I was amused to see that Oscar, in his nervousness, managed to spill his food all over the pristine white table cloth. I didn't care about his little mishap. He looked embarrassed though. Trying to diffuse the moment I slid a small morsel of my food onto the table cloth  declaring "its fine, enjoy your food, you're among friends". It helped and the rest of the night went smoothly. 

After desert (tick, desert always gets a tick - take note guys) I excused myself to go to the bathroom. I was a bit worried I may return to the table to find that Oscar had left or that worse he was a mirage or a dream that never existed. Yet he was real and Oscar was there happily smiling at me as I returned. Thank God he hadn't evaporated in my absence. Tick. 

It was getting late and a week night but I didn't want the evening to end. What if I never saw him again? Finally I had been waiting for a date like this. 

Next thing Oscar stood up ready to leave. "But we haven't paid yet!" I shout in alarm. My worst fears hit me, could Oscar be a thief? Surely he was a thief, everything else was too good to be true. The my date calmly looked at me in the most gentle manner and said, "it's been taken care of."

Wow! Tick. 

Oscar was always a step ahead of me. Even when I got lost trying to find the elusive car park, he was there to fetch me! He'd taken the lead from the start, had made his intentions clear that we were going out on a date and he had done absolutely everything in his power to make the evening perfect and it was perfect.

Oscar had placed great value on me by planning such a wonderful date, even though he'd never met me, yet he still felt I was worthy of being treated like a princess. Despite his nerves and half his dinner ending up on the table it didn't matter, because all the other thoughtful elements of the night that made it such a great date. 

Thank you Oscar.

*name changed to Oscar because he deserves one for his award winning performance in making me feel like the leading lady.