Friday, July 15, 2005

Expatriate New Yorkers


The closest that I have come to dating a New Yorker in New York is going out to Rascals with a boy from Greenwich, Conn. I am convinced it is not the same thing.

I have dated several New Yorkers outside of New York, mostly in Tucson. The three men that immediately come to mind were all also Italians who had wonderful families. They had their dating quirks. I am not about to discern if it was because they were from NY, Italian, or had such an amazing family that outsiders were a distant second.

Boy One was my first Valentines Day day date, and to this day is the only guy who showed up at my door with a red Amazon rose, taken me out to a fantastic dinner, and said the magic words "Happy Valentines Day." He also brought to my flat two of every kind of single-serving bottle of beer and wine they carried at the local liquor store - not realizing that I don't drink. I appreciated the gesture immensely.

It was our first date, and our last. After he gave me an impromptu fashion show of the red fishnet thong he was wearing for the occasion, it became very clear that we were more cut out to be friends than lovers. Great friends, I love him dearly and he has been a peach to me.

He rang me up on Thanksgiving one year, and discovered I was home alone. He advised me that his brother (whom I hadn't met) was in my area (which was a lie) and he was going to ring him on the cell and have him pick me up and take me to their parents for dinner (which he did). It was incredibly thoughtful.

What the boy failed to mention was that he was not at this Thanksgiving dinner, he was in California. So there I was in a room filled to the brim with family and friends, me not knowing a soul. His family was very gracious, after his mother introduced me to the group as the only female friend that her son had never slept with there was plenty to talk about.

The other two New Yorkers had their quirks as well. I invited the one to attend the symphony with me, he accepted and then promptly forgot about it. In his brain my follow up call to arrange to meet him for dinner prior to the symphony was a separate date, and he did show for that - but had made other arrangements for the symphony slot. Obviously not an evening he was looking forward to as much as I was.

The third made some unfortunate comment about how I was staying too far away from him and was inconvenient to pick up for a date. Keep in mind, I was visiting from Alaska and had just traveled two hours by car to get to the Anchorage airport, a 12 hour flight to Arizona, a half hour from the the Tucson airport to my girlfriend's house - and fifteen minutes was too long for him to have to drive to pick me up. Way to make a girl feel special.

Hints to those wanting to date Alaskans: if you agree to go out with her, show up. Show up appropriately dressed in a timely manner. Be there when she meets your family for the first time, especially if it is a formal dinner in your home on a national holiday. Don't whine about the commute, and lose the thong.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never thought of wearing a red mesh thong.

Dorene Lorenz said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Dorene Lorenz said...

They scare me.

Anonymous said...

With you, one should never be so presumptuous.

Anonymous said...

Impressive. I know most if not all of those men. P.S. Bruce called me today.....