Mary a Side Note

So then the other thing I wrestle with is - my Rodeo date and Jay - both came to Sheridan/passing through Sheridan on their way elsewhere and thought "meet Mary," or have a date for the Rodeo (which I too was happy to have).

Jay, I met at the Mint on Tuesday for a beer. He was on his way through for Cheyenne Frontier Days. He gulped his 1st beer rather quickly; didn't seem ALL that interest in truly visiting with me as he looked around the bar - but it did seem that he had a hearing problem. AND then his cell phone went off - and he answered it!

Turns out he is a realtor in Big Fork, Big Sky?? Big Something Montana. And a fella from Nebraska, whom he sold a property to in Montana, was on his way and was in Sheridan at the same time. So in trying to get this friend/new property owner down to the Mint (I was wondering "Am I invited to dinner, too? This is awkward") and having a difficult time doing it, I got on the phone. Trying to be helpful, I butted in.

Long story short, the guy showed up - Jay was outside with him for a good 10 minutes before I decided I'd had enough of this rodeo. I gave him 4 more minutes and amazingly he did come in - he said, "Sorry Mary, I didn't know...*" and Can I walk you to your truck?

Now, I won't lie - I had tears in my eyes. NOT so much because I was all that into Jay (I wasn't); mostly because I can't believe the actions of other people. How insensitive can you be??? Then again, Jay is 50 and never been married. IMAGINE that?!

I told him no, I could walk myself to my truck.
Then I went to The Pony to get a to-go order.
While there, Jay and his friend showed up.
Jay sent me a text (prior to me realizing he was a few stools down at the bar) saying "I'm sorry Mary, I guess I didn't tell you I had dinner plans."*

* Well - NO. 1st you tell me that you didn't know, now you tell me that you "guess" you didn't tell me about your dinner plans. They don't add up. Furthermore, I am not a side note. I am not an appetizer. I'm a person with real feelings trying to meet a REAL man who wants to have a good time. And how do you expect to have a good time with someone if you aren't going to be present for it?

So this leads me to David. He's coming over sometime this upcoming week to do something fun with me. He can, so he is. But this was only after I told him that I really didn't see how adding me to his "paragliding" adventure was a benefit - a spoiling - to me. To me a first date IS where we both have something to lose. Its where if it doesn't work out, if we don't like each other, we both have to go back to our cars and lick our wounds. It isn't where he gets to go have fun with his buddies and I have to find something to do. And surprisingly, when I told him this - he changed plans. In a good way. He told me (on the phone) that by reading that, he realized that this was a girl who knew what she wanted. That stood her ground. And he liked it. He also realized that expecting me to hang with his Paraglide buddies was expecting a bit much (yep). So we are going to do something this week. Don't know what or where.