My African Romance

Okay that title is a tad dramatic but, in case you missed it, I was recently in South Africa again for the third glorious time, sigh...gosh how I love that place. Maybe it's the warmth of the sun against my flesh or just being in another element that stirs my soul to life. I can really feel the difference in me when I am on the continent. I'm happy and open, much more so than I am here in the states. There's no baggage and the world is my playground...

This time I went on a pretty remarkable date<:) Even more remarkable when you consider the last date I've been on here in the states, lol! I never spoke of him in my blog before, as a matter of fact I barely spoke of him at all because there wasn't anything to say other than; we met on a flight from Capetown to Johannesburg during my last trip to SA, we shared an engaging conversation that left both of us wanting to know more, so we exchanged cards. He waited with me in Johannesburg for my connection flight to America and he carried on with his business. We stayed in touch via email and I never even planned to see him when I went back. But something said "call him" once I touched down in SA and I did! Usually I would fight such an urge and rationalize it away. "What's the point in starting something with a man that lives on another continent"? "Here you go pursuing another unavailable man, this time geographically" LOL! Okay so my thought process is pretty vivid.

So I called him...he was delighted to hear from me and invited me to dinner. He drove an hour to come and collect me for dinner. I dressed up, so did he. He was the perfect gentleman and I felt like a princess the entire night. He pulled out all the stops and we shared the most amazing conversation that I've had in a while.

I sent a little note with a photo to my girls and the responses were priceless. One was shocked that I went on a date with "some random man in Africa" and had the nerve to take a photo with him in which we appeared together as some happy glowing, in love couple. Surely this is no love story in the making (the enormous body of water between us makes that clear) but I did enjoy myself and I still smile quietly whenever I recall the firm yet tender placement of his hand against the small of my back, the way he kissed my cheek like he's known me for years, (sidebar: I can't believe I even allowed him to touch me or kiss me on the cheek!) how perfect and breezy that African night was, the quaint little garden where we dined...his desire to have a traditional African family, the fact that I'm still thinking about him...

It was a good night while it lasted.