As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I am usually so exhausted by the end of the work week that I rely on Saturdays to recover. I like to sleep late (not get out of bed until my body is ready), run errands that I do not have time to do during the week and, in general, not work against the clock. Although I was supposed to meet Camera Guy at 5:00PM for our third date, I thought I could do so without adversely affecting my “easy” Saturday morning/afternoon. I got out of bed at 10:30 and started cleaning my apartment. My plan was to do as much cleaning as possible by noon and then run my errands and pick up something to eat. I hoped to get to the gym at 2, be in the shower by about 3:30 and leave to meet Camera Guy at about 4:30. Simple, right? Wrong!

I had not anticipated receiving a text from my friend Kathleen informing me that “Holy Shit! Someone is sending porn from your blog on Myspace!” I thought she was joking (although I was not laughing) until I logged onto my Myspace page and saw that about 8 bulletins and 8 blogs were posted on my page with titles containing very X rated words that I will refrain from including in this post but, let’s just say, it was a stray from my standard G rated titles like “Super Couple Status” and “Type Schmype”. I immediately deleted the porn, denied the 50 friend requests I had received during the night, changed my password and reported the matter to Myspace. I also responded to the various emails from my friends informing me of the obvious - that a hacker had gotten access to my page. This Myspace clean-up mission took about an hour and I knew I would have to rush if I wanted to meet Camera Guy at 5:00. Since plans are meant to be tweaked, I sent Camera Guy a text asking if we could push it back to 5:30 and, to my utter joy, he responded “let’s just make it 6:00”.

Although I was still running late, I managed to meet Camera Guy on the steps of the Met at 6:00PM. He gave me a hug and a kiss and immediately made it obvious that he was happy to see me. I was happy to see him as well. He had already gotten us tickets so, after offering me the last of his water bottle, we went inside, checked our coats and started exploring the exhibits. I never made it any secret that I know very little about art. My philosophy towards paintings is quite basic: If it is pretty, I like it. If it is not pretty, I don’t like it. Perhaps I am over simplifying but, the truth is that, while I have enjoyed my past outings to various museums both in New York and throughout the world, I have never felt deeply touched by a piece of art. I’ve been moved by books, music and gardens and have often stopped in my tracks while walking around the city to marvel at the beautiful architecture of the buildings lining the streets, but museum-type art has never evoked such emotions. Despite this, I really enjoyed walking around the museum with Camera Guy. He is very knowledgeable about all types of art and knows the difference between Impressionism, Realism and other “isms”. Despite the above, he did not make me feel at all stupid and seemed to appreciate my unsophisticated observations that one of Gustave Courbet’s self portraits looked like Johnny Depp; that one of the caves in “some other artist’s” painting reminded me of the log flume at Great Adventure; and that Rodney Graham’s photograph of an upside down tree reminded me of the tree in the movie The Ring. I was not at all ashamed of my lack of knowledge in this genre and quite frankly, unusually comfortable just being “Meri”. We spent most of our “tour” giggling and Camera Guy admitted that, while he loves the museum, he just wanted to spend time with me without a table between us.

After about an hour, Camera Guy suggested that we go the Museum lounge for a drink and I happily agreed. Over a glass of wine and a cheese and fruit platter, we continued to get to know each other and he leaned over to kiss me several times. I haven’t dated someone in a while who was that physical with me in public and it felt wonderful. After drinks, Camera Guy asked if I wanted to go out for dinner and I responded in the affirmative. During dinner, we started talking about baseball and I told him how Arod, in my opinion, disrespected Major League Baseball by announcing that he would be opting out of his contract during the World Series, even though he blamed the timing of the announcement on his agent. Camera Guy responded by asking if Arod played with the Mets. I laughed in his face and told him he should never EVER ask that question in public again unless he wanted to be mocked endlessly. Secretly, I was relieved that he, too, was not an expert in all matters and, while he surely had the upper hand in the art world, I could run bases around him in the baseball world.

After dinner, we walked all the way back to my apartment and, although I won’t post where I live, I can tell you it was a LONG walk and my legs ached by the time I got home. It was fun though – we walked down Madison Avenue and I drooled over the clothes in the windows of the expensive, designer stores. Every couple of blocks, Camera Guy pulled me aside to kiss me and he made it no secret that he thought I was terrific. I confessed that his high opinion of me made me nervous since he hardly knows me, and that it takes me a while to let my guard down. I also admitted that I find it pretty easy to be myself around him, something that does not usually come naturally to me so quickly when I really like someone.

Since I tend to analyze everything, I naturally spent some time wondering why being myself comes so easily when I am with Camera Guy. I have come to the conclusion that the reason I feel so comfortable with him is that, while I (of course) want to impress him, he makes it clear that I DO impress him simply by being who I am. He doesn’t make me feel bad about dropping my fork at dinner, loves that I absently twirl my hair (a habit I have been trying to break for 30 years) and he thinks I look utterly adorable in my hat and he isn’t afraid to tell me so. (He told me that HE feels nervous around me.) Basically, he makes it impossible for me not to feel great in my normal state because it is what comes naturally to me that attracts him in the first place.

I’ve always wanted to meet someone who made me feel like it was ok to just be me. So far, Camera Guy has taken it a step further: He doesn’t make me feel like it is “ok” to be me – he makes me feel like it is FANTASTIC to be me and I haven’t felt that from a guy I have liked in a long, long time. I realized only recently how important it is for me to be with someone who never makes me doubt he is happy to be with me and reassures me of those feelings with his actions on a regular basis. I feel almost like, by introducing me to Camera Guy, the Universe is showing me that I am not asking too much. Regardless of what happens between me and Camera Guy, I hope I will always remember how I feel right now and that I won’t settle for less in the future. The truth is, however, that along with being “Fantastic Me” comes a pretty cautious nature in respect to matters of the heart. As such, despite our three great dates, it is too soon to come to any conclusions regarding my future with Camera Guy except for one thing - I really look forward to a fourth date!