Mr. Mirror

So, dear reader. I know what you're thinking: "OMG, two posts in one day? wtf?" :D But I thought this deserved it's own post.

A very interesting man has entered my life. I shall call him Mr. Mirror, as we're both Pisces, and remarkably similar in many ways and habits. He reminds me of Mr. Wolf a lil, who was also a Pisces. Mr. Mirror can show me things about my spirit that cause me to pause and think, thank, and praise.

Mr. Mirror contacted me initially through a website community, though not a dating site. The email was short and to the point, introducing himself as a virtual and RL neighbor. He lives no more than 5 miles from me in fact. There was no... attempt to gain romantic favor. This wasn't a man on the make as it were. We struck up a genial email conversation. We shared humorous anecdotes, fears, past relationships and hopes and dreams.

During our first actual phone conversation, I asked to meet him that evening. I was tired of meeting men on the net, exchanging emails, then phone calls, then ... after a lot of time invested in these two things, meeting in person only to discover that there was no chemistry face to face for both people.

So we met, and after the initial shock and awe of "how does this person measure up / differentiate from the email persona" there was definitely chemistry. Coffee moved on to a dinner down the block, conversation, and the need to remember to breathe occasionally. A walk back to my car, long hug good night, and a kiss that totally caught me off guard, but that I liked.

Since that night a lil over 2 weeks ago, we've walked around neighborhoods, talked on picnic tables, and met for more coffee. Our second date he actually came to my school to meet me for a walk after a teacher function, which I consider quite brave of him. Not a lot of men would be willing to meet a lady's coworkers and friends and see where she taught at the beginning stages. He's pushed me on a park swing, asked me out for ice cream, and brought me flowers. He can be incredibly romantic.

In many ways, this... courtship, for lack of a better term, is a learning experience for both of us. This is the first time since high school I've actually dated someone. Dated someone near me geographically even. My ex-husband and I never even really dated, it was just "do you want to go do something?" I'm learning about my wants and desires when things are still very new, and there isn't a sense of knowing someone yet.

It's weird that I say that, because in many ways he and I feel familiar to each other. Like we've known each other for a long time. But, we are constantly learning the details of the other. The day to day nuances and behaviors and habits.

I'm learning to express myself better in person. I'm learning to stand my ground and my beliefs. Example, he's vegetarian, I'm not. I love eating meat (get your mind out of the gutter hehe). I respect his choice in food, in valuing the sacredness of life. But likewise we had a conversation where I stood my ground and asked him to respect my choices. I don't know that I'll ever get to the point where I choose for health or spiritual reasons to give up a good steak. I do know that to try and force my actions or choices would be to push me in the other direction. I rebel easily that way.

Yesterday I got angry at him for planning a movie date with someone else when he'd said he'd go walking with me. I don't begrudge him time spent with others. We're not attached at the hip and I'm not going to try and hold on to someone the way I tried with Mr. Wolf. But it was rude, if unintentional. Normally in the past I would have held my anger in, equating anger as a "bad" emotion. But this time I actually was able to express how I felt in an email. Granted, it should have been in person, or on the phone, but I'm a work in progress.

It's amazing the way stating my pissed-off-ness alleviated and dissipated much of the emotion. I'm learning a lot from dating Mr. Mirror, and I have just begun to scratch the surface.