Now what?

So...
ACG drove up from Chicago today. It was a short visit. It was a good visit. Actually it was a great visit. I'm sure that in my panic I made a bunch of dating no no's. I wasn't sure what to think about all of this. I'll explain.
When I put up a profile it was a spur of the moment choice. I had been working on researching the figures for investors to want my business to succeed as much as I want it to. Ten weeks and the info proved to be elusive despite the best search engines that google can engineer. So, I amused myself. I put up a profile. The next day I went to take it down. While driving to an undisclosed location, I thought why would I do that? How can you slam the door in serendipity's face when you practically hog-tied her and dragged her to your door? How not very synchronicitous is that? As daVinci said to Henry in Everafter, "Fate has a lot to do. Sometimes you have to give her a hand." At the very least, don't tell her to step off. Oooooh bad karma. Bad bad karma. So I left it up. My inner Vulcan convinced me that I had nothing to fear in doing so. After all, it would take at least a couple of weeks to get some hits. It would take a couple more weeks to filter through the minutia and find the essence of someone I might be interested in. Then it would be at least 12-15 weeks of Internet talking to find out if there was to be anything more than just net buddies. That, my inner Vulcan said, was worth the trauma of having to describe myself-which I hate- using pick and chose menus that are as user friendly as penciling in standardized test answers-which I hate- on a computer that doesn't obey my commands to click where i say to click-which I despise more than than all the Ferengi in all of the explored universe and beyond. And only at that point would I have to worry about meeting him. My close to the surface pessimist reminded me that when I put a profile up 7 years ago I got NOTHING. I would probably get nothing this time too. Hakuna matata.
My c2ts pessimist is an IDIOT!! I got a lot of interest. But after two months of watching the offers come in, no one's name stood out. I never even looked at the photos. I eliminated guys who advertised voracious sexual appetites in their screen names. Then I eliminated guys whose hobbies were in their names (hunt/fish/shoot/muddin'/et all) then those who weren't very creative. Then an ad caught my eye.
I knew my site linked with other dating sites. And I fell for the "click here to see 7 messages waiting for you at[redacted]". Can you say "DOH!" Homer? Yep. Gull-a-Bull! Since it turns out I'm not so shiksa as catholic school could make a girl, I signed up. The next day I got a couple of hits. I've already said how well that went. But I tagged someone. He tagged back. That was ACG. And ACG came to town today. Yes, kids, the math on that puts it exactly 12 weeks and 6 days ahead of the Vulcan's estimates. Of course she will say that the human factor makes an accurate hypothesis impossible, given the erratic nature of the variables. And, after all, "You did ask me to guess. Vulcans don't guess." Yes, she's a sarcastic inner Vulcan, she must get that from her human mother. Let me correct, Vulcan's don't guess WELL (underscore well). And now that I have met him ahead of the fantasy schedule that some idiotic pointy eared devil devised, I find I am even less prepared than I previously thought possible.
I froze. I couldn't think of any place to go. My estimated driving time was faulty and so was the site's. When he got here I was still so wound from nerves that I barely got him to the point at Old Mission. I spent all day yesterday frantic about what to wear, uncertain of how orthodox orthodox was. I settled on mini skirt and kinda wished that I had chosen jeans. My curly hair frizzed and flattened just for him (stupid hair) and I just wanted to die. I had him meet me at Kathy's shop, since I feel really comfortable there. Bev and Karen were really sweet. Karen even gave me an emergency number in case I had to bail. I knew I wouldn't have to, ACG is really awesome. If anything she may have had to bail him out if my stomach had turned any more Cedar Point roller coaster corners. All in all... I was a wreck.
But, meeting in person was just like talking on the phone and IMing. He is much more attractive than his profile picture... but then no photo ever captures a person accurately. And he sounded more relaxed and less up than when we are on the phone. That may be due to the quality of my phone and the length of his drive. He did hug me before he left. And he said we should plan to meet again when we can spend some real time together.
I am hoping that means he didn't waste the trip and that he wasn't just being polite. ACG is terribly honest about his opinions so I will take them at face value. But I think to myself, now that I am calm enough to write without heavily relying on the backspace key, this felt very good. I don't mean felt good like a chenille sweater. I mean felt good as in my soul felt sunshine through the darkness of my own anxiety.
That's the way my soul feels when I meet kindred people. It's part of how I recognize people that are safe to be around even if a personality is somewhat abrasive. Comfortable is kind of an insulting description for a potential Someone More Than Friends... like a zip up sweater. And that's not how I mean comfortable. I mean that the only one who was giving me fits today was me. Last year when Chris set me up, I wanted to get away from the guy almost the second that I saw him. He did not make my soul feel sunshine. As nervous as I was about the fact that I don't have a picture up, I felt okay to be in my own skin. He didn't run screaming so today was a good thing.