An Ordinary Date.

Two nights ago I had an ordinary evening out in my dreams. The dream picked up as we were leaving the movie theater in town, and we decided to step across to the local micro-brew's bar and grill. Even though we were walking, we managed to get there before the folks who decided to drive around and try to park, so won the race to the good table in the quiet corner. (Most of the tables are in visual and audio range of three to four televisions, this table only has one facing it.)

We sat across from one another and I got a really good look at my date's face, she was no one I currently know. Long wavy dark hair, she admitted that it was dyed, and she'd been dying it since she was a teen, so really had no idea exactly what color it was now. It was sort of an obsession with her, visiting the hair salon every two to three weeks, basically any time the color didn't match at the roots, or she changed her mind about what color she wanted her hair to be now. Her hair was so full that I doubted that one could normally see the roots at all. She wore very little makeup, and her eyes and mouth were lightly wrinkled, but in a way that said she spent a lot of time smiling, those happy wrinkles were, along with her rather bright blue eyes, the features that had originally attracted me to her.

We talked about the movie. The photography, the lighting, the script and the story, each of us taking a turn proposing other twists the story could have taken. In all it was a delightful evening. We finished our dinner and walked back to her car, hand in hand. She was slightly taller than me, in her high heels, but the extra length made our strides match, as she pointed out. I smiled, deciding not to tell her that I was taking about two thirds of a normal step as she was essentially walking to tiptoe in a fairly tight knee length skirt. The sun was down and I liked how her blue dress and jacket had turned black under the sodium lamps. "Instant evening wear." I joked with her.

That led to a short conversation about work, and the time we needed to rise in the morning. We agreed to call when we were home from work to arrange for dinner. The date ended with a long full body hug. Our goodnight kiss was affectionate, but not particularly passionate, and this told me that our exclusivity was something we had drifted into, perhaps out of insecurity, or momentum, or a lack of other options (on my part, she was quite attractive both physically and mentally. I remembered being at fund raisers and other events where she always managed to attract a sort of masculine entourage. It was always a big ego boost when she sought me out and grabbed my hand, reeling herself into my side with my arm wrapped around behind her, fingers entwined over the front of her waist.)

I woke from that dream feeling content, and oddly hopeful.