Had a breakfast date this morning with a guy from CL. Not a breakfast date that started the night before, but a breakfast date that we fit into his schedule. Wasn't sure what to make of him: neutral emails, definite points for getting straight to arranging the date, nothing incriminating on the internets. Those were all good. The thing that concerned me was that he signed his emails Ciao.
"Ciao"? Ciao isn't the regular close around here, which means he picked it. He picked Ciao. Ciao! Air kisses, darling! Ciao! I said Ciao when I was in Rome. They just know how to live better over there. Ciao! I said Ciao when I was in Argentina, leaving my friends in Buenos Aires to go on my trek to see the First Peoples. They are totally unspoiled, so in touch with nature out there in the jungle. Ciao! Ciao comes with some pretty heavy baggage.
So I went to the date all snarky and cynical, having parsed the guy out from five short emails and his choice of Ciao. But the universe laughs when we think we've figured things out. First, the guy was beautiful. He wasn't beautiful like a Korean astronaut, but beautiful like my other tastes. Beautiful like he'd walked straight off my description of my type. My height, dark curly hair, blue eyes, good voice. So pretty. And he was easy to talk to, bright, does good works. I laughed at myself the entire date. I don't like judging people by looks, and here he was, making my knees weak. I'd been suspicious about Ciao, and yet the guy was more than pleasant.
I don't think I'll hear from him. I got a pretty final handshake at the end (which I also laughed at, internally). He might just be self-possessed, but I didn't see any sudden surge of interest, no leaning forward to hurriedly ask a question. This is fine. I had a good breakfast with a beautiful man and I got reminded to stop the incessant parsing and pre-judging. A good morning's work, I say.