#MyWorstDate

In my 31 years of living, I have learned a lot. About life, about choices, about love, and about horrible, HORRIBLE guys! I always wore my heart on sleeve. This one gentleman, however, hit me like a giant truck out of absolutely nowhere. He totally took me by surprise when I met him. I fell for him and he had fallen for me, or so he made me believe. Little did I know the mess he would cause my life!

It was a hot day in July. I took my little sister to a music festival. There were thousands of people crammed shoulder to shoulder in an outdoor arena and sweat dripped profusely from everyone. As we wandered around, we came upon one of the many tents that was selling merchandise for the music festival.

There he was. He had long red hair (red haired guys weren’t even my type) that was straight as can be, like those girls with the silky, straight hair in shampoo commercials. He had black sunglasses on with shorts and a tank top. My sister and I stayed and made small talk with him. I told him how thirsty we were. He said how they had an abundance of water and that he would be happy to share it with us. We drank that water and socialized for a little bit. I learned his name, how long he had been working with the company, how many years he’d been touring with this music fest, all that fun stuff. Before we left, he actually asked me for my phone number. We had hit it off so well that I decided to give it to him.

What harm could having a new friend be? I always liked making new friends.

He ended up texting me that very night. That’s when it all started. We texted every day. Every night. Eventually we’d call each other and talk for hours. I started to really like this guy. He lived in Arizona and I lived in Chicago, but it wasn’t something I overly thought of. I just wanted to enjoy how the relationship was unfolding. We talked about seeing each other all the time. He even went so far as to start talking about moving closer to be together. He was so sweet. So charming. He was different.

We had grown close over the course of a couple of months, however we never saw each other other than that first time we met. We decided to see each other once again. We settled on Denver, Colorado. That in itself was a mistake because I always seemed to have bad luck every time I visited Colorado in the past! From traffic tickets, to airport problems, to illness, to rude people. Every time I went to Colorado, something bad happened. That should have been my biggest red flag. However, I was totally blinded by the feelings I had for this guy.

From Chicago, I drove 15 hours to Rapid City, South Dakota. I stayed with a family member there for a couple of days. After that, this gentleman flew me to Denver. I got a hotel there and it would be the next day I’d finally see my prince! He was just as excited as I was (or so I thought.)

He made it so I could spend the day with him and then that night he planned on taking me to dinner and having a real date for us. He had a couple of days off after that so we planned on spending those days together. When I finally saw him again, I gave him the biggest hug.

He seemed a little off. I figured it was the scorching Denver heat and his nerves. I was nervous too. We spent a few hours together laughing, smiling, just enjoying this time we were so excited for, so I didn’t think much of his behavior.

The time came when he had to close up the tent, finish up working, and then get ready for our date. He told me to get ready and that he couldn’t wait for our date. He said he’d call me in about an hour.

I went back to the hotel and got ready. Yes! This date is finally happening. Maybe we will have our first kiss! Who knows!

About an hour passed.

“Hmmm” I thought. Maybe something is holding him up? I didn’t think much of it and waited a little longer, totally understanding that things can come up and take more time to finish with working a festival.

After two hours, I started to wonder what was taking so long.

So I decided to call him. His phone went straight to voicemail.

I had a sinking, sinking feeling.

There I was, looking like a million bucks. All dressed up and now nowhere to go.

Another hour passed.

And then another.

I decided to call again. Straight to voicemail.

Again.

Was he really standing me up? The festival had closed up so I couldn’t go back and I refused to any way. If he was going to see me, he’d find a way... even if his phone actually died.

I started thinking of every excuse possible to try to dissuade myself from believing the worst about him. Maybe his phone died? What if he was trying to get a hold of me? What if he couldn’t find the hotel? What if his phone got broken and he doesn’t know my number by heart? What if he was kidnapped and being held captive by a Denver mob and couldn’t get to me? If that was the case, I figured he’d at least hop on Facebook and try to message me (unless he was kidnapped by the mob of course.)

I tried to think of anything but the fact that this guy actually just left me stranded in a Days Inn hotel 2000 miles away from home. In a town where I knew no one. I was completely alone, with no way home, totally stranded, with no money, and heartbroken.

I was so confused. How could this happen when he seemed to like me so much? I cried myself to sleep. It was that ugly kind of cry where you forget how to breathe and choke on your gasps in between tears. It was a long night of shitty sleep.

The next day, I checked Facebook to see if there was any explanation from him or a reason why he ditched me. He had deleted me off of Facebook. No message. No explanation. Nothing. He just vanished.

It was then I knew that I would never actually get an explanation from him. Even if he was willing to tell me, I don’t know if I’d want to hear it. He had really hurt me.

I had to embarrassingly call multiple family members for help with getting home, since he obviously was not flying me back.

Here I was, this pathetic, broken hearted, crying girl, stranded in an Alpine desert environment, in the dead heat of summer, by a douchebag guy. It took me 2 days to get home. Many months to wrap my head around what he did to me. Talk about being mind screwed.

I never talked to him again. That also was the last time I ever went to Colorado. Haha!

What I did learn though, was that I would never go to Colorado again, and that I certainly would NEVER travel a distance for any guy ever again. I also learned to take what guys say with a grain of salt and never allow that salt to spill into any wound they emotionally leave in you. Because it will burn badly.

Now that I look back on that experience clearly, I realize how ugly he really was (personality-wise and that made him physically unattractive.) I am glad it didn’t work out because I could never have a relationship with someone that was capable of doing that to anyone!

I am happily engaged now to a man who traveled 2,000 miles on multiple occasions to visit me before deciding to move close to me. :)

#MyWorstDate