I was about 30 years old and living in the planned community of Columbia Maryland. I had a large townhouse on the eastern edge of the city with three stories and quite a few amenities. The Jacuzzi tub upstairs came in handy occasionally for a fairly young single guy. I wasn't seeing anyone special and, like most single working people, found it difficult to meet anyone outside of work. And the work romance was too perilous, especially if things didn't work out -- which they never seemed to do.
This was the era of singles ads in magazines, before the advent of the Internet and email and cyber-dating. The most popular spot for ads in that area was the Washingtonian Magazine, which came out once a month. There were literally thousands of ads with every sexual combination you could imagine: men seeking women, women seeking men, women seeking women, men seeking couples. I invariably glanced through the women seeking men category. One had to be careful. The ads could range from truthful to slightly exaggerated to downright deceiving. A typical one might read:
Luscious swf, 5'4", 28,
Seeking man with no inhibitions
In DC area, no smokers, beaches,
Dining, fireplaces, and laughter
Now you knew this was a dangerous one to consider. The woman was quite precise about her age and height, but she didn't happen to mention her weight -- an oversight? No, if she were proud of it, it would be there. There was a good possibility this one was 5'4" and about as wide as was tall. Now if the ad had said "5'4", 120 lbs", that could still mean that this was not her actual, doctor-certified, current weight. This may have been her weight several years ago or the weight she is dieting and exercising to reach. She may actually be closer to 140 lbs. Don't they realize that the man will find out at the first meeting? It's a little hard to hide those 20 extra pounds. I was always puzzled about this until, one day, it dawned on me. These gals hoped that you would be so dazzled by their sparkling personality, so taken with their good cheer and glowing smile, that the weight thing would fade into insignificance and the romance would progress, girth or no girth. I have been there a few times. After the letters and the phone calls, after first date is set, and you finally meet and see her for the very first time -- the weight thing hits you over the head like a sledge. Your heart sinks. All that wasted Brut. But, ever the gentleman, you follow through with the date, never suggesting that the svelte "115 lbs" in her ad must have been a misprint for "175". You feed her and now she is probably 180. Ah well, just one more lost evening.
So, if you do answer an ad where the weight is questionable, in order to avoid embarrassing episodes, you learn to gently insinuate your concern into the conversation, but never ask her directly – that would be too rude. You say something like,
"I work out and take pretty good care of myself."
If she does as well, she will tell so you at this point. If she doesn't say then you persist.
"I like women who also stay in good shape."
Most get the hint and either ease your worries by letting you know they are not fat or else steer the conversation away from this forbidden topic, letting you know, in essence, that this is a matter they rather wish you would overlook. Even with such precautions, mishaps do occur. One woman I called who didn't mention her weight in the ad was forthright, if devious, about her tonnage. She told me,
"I am in great shape and men like my figure".
Well, you can't go wrong there and she was delightfully giggly on the phone, laughing at all of my devastating witticisms. So we made a date to meet. I went up to her door to pick her up for the dinner date. I rang and she opened. She was huge. She filled the doorway. I hoped that my face didn't betray my shock and disappointment. I was, after all, a gentleman. My heart sank. Now it was just a matter of getting through the next 3 or 4 hours, trying to smile, pretending to be interested. I wondered about that "men like my figure" remark. Then I realized; she was proud of her enormous chest and probably thought men would overlook the fact that her stomach protruded just as far as her chest did. I got through the evening, but on the drive back home, finally alone, I determined to be bold next time, if there ever were a next time, and simply tell the woman that I preferred a thin, petite shape in my amours.
Well, time passed and the last blind date faded a bit, so I allowed myself to give in to hope and read the ads again. Surely, the last time was a fluke. I did see one. It sounded pretty good:
Attractive DJF, 5'6", 115,
Looking for professional man
Who shares my interest in
Quiet times, travel, talking, and sex.
No smokers please.
No beating around the bush here for this girl. She may as well have put the word "sex" in bold 16 type, underlined in red. That is the word that I saw immediately. Most of them write that their goal is "romance" or "long term commitment" or even "marriage", but this one had her heart set on "sex". Moreover, she was thin. Even allowing for the 20 pound fudge factor, she couldn't be too bad. Naturally, I answered her first. She wrote back and gave me her phone number. She was interested. I called her and we spoke for a while. Her name was Ronnie, lived in northern Virginia, and seemed intelligent and witty. She made quite a few allusions to sexual matters during the course of the conversation. I remember she said,
"You are probably going to want to kiss me after you see me."
What a curious thing to say. It may have been true, but is bizarre for the girl to bring that up. Most are so demure about this type of thing at first. We made a somewhat provocative first date: a picnic during the summer. This meant hot weather and sparse clothing; a blanket on the ground somewhere private and a bottle of champagne to loosen up the scruples. And she was thin and unabashed about her interest in sex. It sounded perfect.
She lived about an hour away. She won my heart by suggesting that she drive to me this first time. This had all sorts of good connotations. Number one, I wouldn't have to drive the horrible Washington DC beltway. And if she got a little tipsy after the champagne and needed to relax a bit before going home, well then, we had my place right there. The date was set for Sunday afternoon at noon. I packed the picnic lunch – after all, she was making the big drive – chilled the bubbly and waited for her to arrive. This is always the nerve-wracking part – waiting for them to show up for the first time – and then getting your first fateful glimpse.
The doorbell rang. I opened the door and there she was. Just as advertised, she was medium height, thin, and had a quite nice chest. She was wearing a very short skirt, bare legged, with a halter-top, giving me a view of stomach and neck and arms and a lot of leg. Quite clearly she had dressed for action. One thing though, and this was my own fault for not asking ahead of time, I noticed that she was older than me. Quite a bit, as a matter of fact. She was probably in the lower to mid 40's range, with more emphasis on the "mid". True, her ad didn't mention age, but then my eyes and mind couldn't get past that all too prominent declaration of "sex". And her height and weight checked out so nicely. Oh God, not again: a blind date with someone who didn't interest me. How did I get into these situations?
"Ronnie, it's so nice to finally meet you. How pretty you look."
Lord, what a cad. What I was really thinking as I said this was
"Ronnie how old you look."
The older woman and I went on our picnic. We found a nice spot near the Columbia lake, spread out our blanket, popped the cork on the Mouton Cadet and proceeded to get pleasantly swizzled. I was not used to drinking during the day. The heat and the champagne produced a very pleasing buzz in me, and I think in her as well. She was a little coquette, touching and flirting and stretching out her legs and arms and chest just so to let me appreciate her assets. Quite the tasty morsel... Ah, if only she were 20 years younger. OK, at this point I'd take 10. I could not get past the fact that when I looked at her, I thought of my mother's friends. It was not a particularly exciting notion. We ate and talked and drank.
She stretched and writhed about seductively on the blanket, clearly taken with me. I should mention at this point that I was 6'2", about 180 lbs and had pretty well defined muscles from my hours at the Columbia Center gym. I usually wear contacts, but today, I had to wear my glasses. One of the contacts was scratched and needed to be replaced. I only mention this because it occurred to me that if I took off my glasses, maybe I could focus upon her charms more clearly, if you know what I mean. In the myopic, impressionistic haze that resulted, I could not see but could imagine the nice shape and bare legs and hard nipples through the halter-top. It worked to a degree. She leaned over and gave me a quick kiss, not too quick, lingering just enough to let me know she wanted more, that now it was my turn. But as we parted from the kiss, she was close enough to me that I saw her cute but too mature face again and this brought me down. I could not do this. There was simply no chemistry except for the alcoholic variety. I felt like I was kissing my mother.
The picnic blanket must have been lying near a patch of noxious weed of some variety. My skin began to itch and feel prickly. I told Ronnie I needed to wash off whatever I had inadvertently lain in. It was all right because it was time for the picnic to end anyway. The food was picked through, the booze was gone and our conversation started to lag a little.