I'm Not a Gambling Man, But...

I've gambled a handful of times in my life, and the rush was a little too much. I didn't want to lose, and yet there I was, putting my chances into fate's hands and not liking the outcome all that much.

In keeping with the theme that my life is not ever going to be "normal", I recently tried something that I thought was less of a gamble but more of a relational experiment. The hypothesis went something like this:

If I meet someone online and get to know that person through every technological avenue available, that will translate when we finally meet in person. I was optimistic. HYS was optimistic. We spent so many hours on the phone that we didn't think it could fail. Everything lined up.

We met this past Friday night for drinks. And there he was. My friend Steve. The relationship side of the coin just did not line up with what I knew in my head. I hoped that I just needed to give it more time, which was fine because we had to entire weekend.

The next morning, I met William, Steve's son, and got to sit and talk with Steve's parents for awhile. I've known them a looong time, so we had a nice time. Then it was off to Funworks and the Putt-Putt competition was on. I named myself #1, which kept changing, depending on who was holding the scorecard that round. Steve was very careful to line up his shots...

...and then have to reline them up time and time again. (or at least that's how I remember it).

Not very empathetic, I cracked up at a couple of missed shots as I continued my journey to be #1.

William did a great job, actually. Steve showed him very patiently how to hold the club and line up the ball. It took him awhile, but he got it. W is such a cutie. He joined me in laughing at his Dad at in appropriate times. In jest, of course.

In the end, victory was mine. Although, I'm not so bright. I wanted to get a photo of me on my knees in unabashed exuberance but Steve would make me hold this pose without taking the photo while people stopped and stared. I was mortified and he would not cooperate. I think he was just getting his vengeance after losing. After the 3rd try on my knees (and many laughter tears later), he got this shot. Since it inadvertently showed my stomach, I decided to crop it anyway. To think-- I could have gotten a standing photo and not been so embarrassed. Oh well. I'll get over it soon. Ok, over it.Steve and W then went on the Go-Carts and I got a different hand gesture every round. This one was safe to post.

On Sunday, we parted the weekend as friends, as Steve agreed that our dynamic in person was much different than on the phone. He said that we took a calculated risk and it didn't pay off the way we thought it would, but we were the best for taking the gamble. He left to go back to LA after I said, "Here's looking at you, Steve."

And then Sophie and I walked off into the sunset.