Murse

OK, so what if a guy shows up for a date with a man purse? A murse?  Is that a dealbreaker? How about a necklace, silver, not gold (gold's worse, isn't it?), but with big enough links you could see them. Dealbreaker? How about if he talked throughout an entire Pilobolus performance?

I haven't been on a first date since the 80's, happily lucky enough to have Shawn around. No Match.com, no eharmony, no speed dating, no blind date set-ups, but I am the Saturday morning quarterback for the Friday night dates of my BFF (I work other days and times, as well - via phone, email and text). So last night the BFF date du jour showed up with the above accouterments as well as being a Chatty Cathy in the theatre. BFF was not impressed and needed some back-up. Well, I asked, what was in the man bag? Did he have a lot of stuff? As far as she could tell there was an iphone and keys and a black Amex card that he pulled out later. I asked if he had on capri pants, too. No, older, baggy Calvin Kleins, the kind with the loop stitched on the back pockets. I thought the biggest problem was the man bag on a first date. BFF was really perturbed by the talking. Shana weighed in and voted for the chain. I slowed down Shawn as he raced by the door and asked for his opinion. So, what do you think, honey? Guy with a murse and a necklace and a big talker. Dealbreaker? He said that we were all wrong and that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. I felt bad. He's right. Good guys are really hard to find and maybe BFF should look deeper, not be so superficial (none of us is perfect, right?). We should just let the guys do what they want, be who they are and leave them alone.

But as Shawn said bye, I looked down. He had on boxer shorts. Old flannel-y Joe Boxer shorts. I think they were even originally mine, some stocking stuffer PJ gift from long ago. Are you going out? Yes. Where to? Ace Hardware. In those? Yeah, why? You can't leave the house in those. Why not? Well, for one, they're underwear. He looked at me, knowing that there was really only one way out of the conversation, went back to the bedroom and returned wearing some cute cargo shorts.

BFF, still on the line, said maybe her next date should just stop by here first.