The Boat Show
September 25, 2019
By Tammy Davis
Dating in your fifties. I can’t say I recommend it, but it does make for some good stories.
A while back I was at a fundraising shindig. It was loud and crowded. A friend with good intentions – we’ll call her Sally – approached. On this particular night, I actually had a date. Sally missed that important bit of information. She barreled in full steam ahead.
“Tammy, I have the best idea,” Sally said. “I know where you can go to meet men.”
Another friend was mortified that Sally did not see that I had a gentleman companion standing right beside me. She tried to diffuse the situation. “Sally, I think she’s on a date right now.” We’ll call this savvy second friend Paula.
For whatever reason – loud music, alcohol, the desire to channel her inner Chris Harrison from Bachelorette – the fact that I was on a date didn’t register. Sally continued on with her brilliant match-making plan. “I’ve heard there are lots of single men at the boat shows. You love the water. Any man at a boat show would love the water. It would be perfect. Let’s talk about what you should wear.” Sally was not taking a breath. She had a plan, and she was ready to execute.
It still had not registered with her that I was on a date and that my date was standing right there listening to her plan to help me find another man. “ There’s a boat show in Columbia in two weeks. You definitely need to go to that one, but I have the schedule for the whole state. Road trip!”
At this point, Paula knew she had to take action. She put her hands on Sally’s shoulders and turned her in the direction of my date. At 6’2” he is hard to miss, but somehow Sally had.
“Sally, there is a single man right here, and he is cute, and they are trying to be on a date right now.”
I try to give credit where credit is due. Once it all sunk in, the shocking news that I was actually on a real date, Sally re-grouped. Without missing a beat she stepped in closer, looked up at my date, and said “So…how did y’all meet?”
“We met at a boat show, ” he said. He scored points for being quick on his feet and for being a good sport.
Creative friends with good intentions, witty dates who know how to go with the flow – being single in your fifties isn’t easy. But you usually get some good stories out of it.
Tammy Davis is a local writer. She is getting some good material out of her dating adventures and misadventures.. Her first book. Chin Up Buttercup, is available on Amazon and Kindle.
