I date online a lot and one of my rules is that I do not carry on long phone conversations with a guy before meeting him.

When I first started dating online, I would spend hours on the phone with guys over the course of a week and then when I finally met them, something would happen that turned me off completely (i.e. they’d be 5’8 when they said they were 6’1, they’d have dental issues etc.) I would come home from those dates feeling let down and when I’d remember the time I spent on the phone with these men, I’d think to myself hmmm that’s hours and hours of my life I’ll never get back.

When Mike sent me his phone number in an email two days ago, I ignored it. I didn’t want to spend the week chatting with him only to be disappointed when I met him in person. I know he wanted me to call, but I continued to respond via email. When he made subtle attempts to bring the phone thing up again with questions like “do you have an iPhone or a Blackberry?” I dodged them. I really wanted to limit our exchanges to email, but I wasn’t sure how to say that without sounding rude. One night, I replied to one of his emails around 2am. A few minutes after I hit send, I had an email from him that simply said “Call me.”

Augh… this is what I wanted to avoid! I sat on my bed trying to decide what I should do: I couldn’t email “No, thanks”, he knew I was awake so I couldn’t say I didn’t see the message. I felt like I didn’t have a choice, so I slowly dialed his number and held my breath as the phone rang.

We talked for a little over an hour which is totally against my rules but, in my defense, we had a lot to discuss before I met him. I read the comments everyone wrote in my previous post and a lot of you are not on Team Mike because of his blog. There were a lot of concerns about the content of his blog and the type of guy he is. First of all- Can I just say, I have the best readers ever! Thanks for doing your research and looking out for me. I’ve been avoiding looking at his blog just in case he had any photos of himself on it (I really want to make this an official “blind date”). A couple of you feel like he’s reading my blog from a malicious perspective, but I honestly never got that impression from his comments. I always assumed he was just a straightforward guy who has dated plus size women on occasion. Of course, there was only one way to find out, so I asked him about the it.

He seemed embarrassed when I brought up the blog… and he did mention that it was kind of a dumping ground for all the Politically Incorrect thoughts that he has. He doesn’t seem to have his identity wrapped in his blog and the Mike Lowery that I’ve been getting to know seems to be more kind and caring than his online alter ego. I really enjoyed talking on the phone with him and I’ve spoken to him briefly almost every day since that first call. So long story short, I will proceed with caution, but I will proceed.

I will see him when I get off of work and I promise to have details for you at 8am on Monday.

Wish me luck!