Didn't you date him?was one of many messages I received after my participation on HuffPost's live-streaming network.
Whaaat?? Him who? I could not wrap my head around the question from an East Coast friend who had viewed the HuffPost Live segment on mature online daters.
My sluggish fingers received a reprieve from texting as I switched to answering my friend's phone call.
"I think you dated him... briefly," she began, shifting immediately from written word to voice.
"Who?" I was still not on the same page.
"The guy on HuffPost Live."
As there had only been three of us, two women and a man conversing on our experience as older online daters, I now understood who she meant but, remained confused.
"The name's familiar," said my therapist friend. She continued in great detail, while I traveled back with her to a time that was chronologically only a few years ago. She and my less savvy online dating self were actively involved in a global learning community of women facilitated by Katherine Woodward Thomas and Claire Zammit.
"Remember when you were waiting on the Golden Gate Bridge with a bouquet of sunflowers," she prompted. That memory was vivid. There had been some mix-up with my lunch date finding me. I'd stood at the Visitors' Center, perfectly coifed hair blowing in the wind, calming my anxious younger selves with a technique learned in our Feminine Power course.
Did my friend actually believe that the dating coach on HuffPost Live was the same man who had been inadvertently late for our date? Short term memory loss does come into play with older people who are interested in you online. More than one man has invited me to meet-up shortly after I first turned him down. Until now, I had thought my own memory was intact.
"Look again," she encouraged, waiting patiently while I viewed. He didn't look like the man I had shared two lunches with.
"Google him," my friend persevered. None of the links confirmed my friend's premise until I added men's group to the search. Up popped an illustration of a book. I might not have remembered his face but, I remembered the cover and catchy title.
As past and present came together with life's synchronicity, I roared with laughter. Tickled that the virtual infant I had been when first dating online was now going live, streaming alongside one of her earliest meet-ups. I love when serendipity provides evidence of our interconnection. My laughter was contagious, soon my friend and I were laughing like young children.
Pausing to ponder how I could have forgotten what he looked like, we agreed his appearance was different with a clean shaven face. Happier, my friend noticed with her therapist's eye.
"The relationship is good for him," she proclaimed. I agreed and was genuinely glad for him.
Having been mature adults for a few minutes, our pure laughter started up again. Later our stomach muscles would ache but, it was worth it. We were experiencing the joy of the Cosmic Cackle. It shakes out residual doubt and lets you know that Life has your back.
If an energy, far greater than us all, can orchestrate this humorous happenstance, it can assuredly provide assistance with my online search for a great love.