#FirstDate #FirstDates #FirstDatesIRL #Dating #Dublin #Dublin8 #IrishNationalWarMemorialGardens #Ireland #LEGO
First Date #39 was with an Irish woman living in Dublin. We matched on Tinder. And then we matched on Bumble. That was back in 2019. She said that matching twice meant we should probably meet in person. I don’t know why, but I barely made any effort to keep in contact with her until lockdown happened. Then I reached out to see how she was. Fortunately, she was still interested in meeting, so we got to know each other a little through texting. I told her about myself, and that didn’t scare her off – that’s a plus. She wears various hats in the performing arts field, and that means she occasionally visits Kilkenny and it’s various plays and festivals. A Dublin woman who might visit me as often as I visit her? Another plus!
At the time, I was studying Irish on Duolingo, and she was too. Although FirstDate39 is an expert in the language, she continues to improve her mastery. She even goes to Irish Language Retreats to increase her skills – very admirable.
We also both love cats. We exchanged pictures of our pussies (I never get tired of that joke). I also sent her a picture of my brown asshole – Brownie! 🐕
So, when restrictions were lifting in late June, we made plans to meet on Thursday. I had already hired the car for the week as I saw FirstDate38 on Monday. At least I wasn’t a total scoundrel this time – I scheduled the dates on different days for a change. We met at the Irish National War Memorial Gardens – a more beautiful place than the name might suggest. There are rose gardens, many trees, and a lovely walk along the River Liffey. We indulged in that walk to spend as much time together as possible. We walked back to grab a coffee (tea for me) before she left. We spent a lovely afternoon together, but we chose not to hug at the end to stay within current restrictions/guidelines. She had elderly parents she was helping care for, and neither of us wanted to jeopardize that. But, it definitely seemed like a future meeting was imminent.
(First Date – 2 July, 2020)
