Cheryle and Ray
The following is the transcript of this podcast episode.:
Jodi: Cheryle, welcome back to the podcast. I’m thrilled to have you with us again to tell us another first date story.
Cheryle: Hey, I’m glad to be back. Thank you for having me again. I’m looking forward to telling you about this one.
Jodi: Before we get into the story, please tell us a little bit about yourself again for the listeners who have not yet heard your first date story with Joe.
Cheryle: I’m a woman in my 60s. I’m in media, so this is kind of fun being involved in podcast, and I have a story I want to tell you about dating in my 50s.
Jodi: Who is the story about?
Cheryle: This is about Ray. A group of friends and I were out for another friend’s big birthday. We go to a restaurant. There were probably eight of us girls. I walked over to the band guy who’s just gotten set up to find out what kind of music he plays. Then, of course, the band starts playing and all us girlfriends are dancing and drinking and having a good time. At the break he came over and said that he liked my smile. I turned into a teenager! I was thinking, “Oh my God! He’s so cute.”
At the end of the evening he asked for my phone number! The group all goes back to my house where they’re spending the night. I remember thinking before going to bed that night, “Gosh, I really hope that he calls.” I hadn’t really had a chance to talk to him at all. I just thought there was about something him. He had a baby face. He looked young. I was really hoping he wasn’t in his 20s!
Jodi: Why did you walk up to him and ask that question? Was it just that you wanted to ask any guy in the band your question, or was there something about him?
Cheryle: Well, initially, I really was curious about the kind of music that the band was going to play. He was there setting up. I didn’t think, “Oh, this guy is cute,” until he came up and talked to me at the break. Later that evening I thought, “Oh, he is pretty cute! Let’s dance around and be silly in front of the band.” So, the girls go home to my place. The next morning I wake up and on my phone there’s a call from this area code that isn’t in my general neighborhood. I thought, “I wonder if this is him?” There’s no message though. We all go wine tasting with the girlfriend for her big birthday. I come back home and thought, “I’m just going to call this phone number and find out if it’s this guy.” So I did.
Jodi: Wow! You are a gutsy woman. Bravo!
Cheryle: I figured, “What do I have to lose?” I just called and I said, “Oh, hi. There’s a phone call that came in at two o’clock in the morning and I’m just wondering, was that you?”
Jodi: Was it a drunk dial? (Laughter)
Cheryle: And he said something about not knowing where to go have breakfast. That’s a cute pick-up line! So then he wanted to know if I had plans that day. But I had all the friends over. So, we decided we would go out on Sunday. And because he plays music, he’s a keyboard player and is out all the time, I thought, “We could go to a restaurant, but I have a funky little keyboard in my house.” So I asked him, “Why don’t you come over? I’ll make dinner and we’ll set up the keyboard in my family room kitchen area? You play music for me and I’ll make you chicken fettuccine.” (Laughter)
Jodi: Really? For your first date, you made this guy dinner?
Cheryle: Dinner. Yes, I did.
Jodi: Cheryle, I have to ask you, what about him indicated to you that you would be safe and that he was a guy who you could invite over to your home for a first date?
Cheryle: I know, I guess that is kind of weird huh? There was just something that was soulful about him. When you watch somebody play music, there is something to that. I got a sense, even talking to him on the phone, and we didn’t talk that much. Also, the fact that it wasn’t his suggestion. It was my suggestion to have him come to my house and play music for me.
It was great a date. He played beautiful music. We ate chicken fettuccine for dinner. After dinner, we made out for a while. Then he said, “Can I take your pants off?” And I said, “No.” And he goes, “Okay.” He asked, “Can we go out on Wednesday?” And I said, “Okay.” (Laughter)
There you go! That was it. And believe me, in this world of online dating and apps and everything, it’s kind of fun to meet someone organically, old school, in a bar!
Jodi: You met him in a bar, invited him over and had a lovely dinner!
Cheryle: Right. We did. And we’ve been together for over 10 years now.
Jodi: Congratulations! You took a big leap of faith there. You took a big risk.
Cheryle: Yes. I felt like it would be okay because it wasn’t his suggestion. It was mine. And it all worked out.
Jodi: What do you have to say to our listeners about taking this sort of step, making this sort of move, in this era of apps and online dating?
Cheryle: Yeah. I think there are two things. The old “picking somebody up in a bar”–we actually picked each other up–is not a terrible thing. It doesn’t mean that it ends up being a one night stand, or any of those kinds of things. Yes, sometimes that connotation will come with a bar sort of scenario.
Also, I think being open, in my case, to calling the phone number. Again, if he had said, “I was drunk and I’m sorry,” that would have been the end of that. But why wait around for someone and think “I hope he calls back?” I think Ray was kind of embarrassed. We laughed about the fact that he had called at 2:00am. He had some silly excuse, which obviously wasn’t real the deal. So sometimes just stepping out, being a little brave, and realizing that there doesn’t have to be terrible consequences. Don’t worry about “What if this doesn’t work?” or “What if it doesn’t turn out the way I want it to be?” It’s just a slice of life, you know?
Jodi: You hit redial and you met your husband! (Laughter)
Cheryle: Exactly! Yes, I did. And we have a great relationship.
Jodi: It’s a great love story.
Cheryle: Yes.
Jodi: It touches my heart and I’m sure it touches the hearts of our listeners as well.
Cheryle: Yes.
Jodi: Thanks for coming back and sharing another story with us.
Cheryle: Absolutely! Thank you very much.
