This date is a perfect example of Mercury in Retrograde in action. Wires crossed, confusing communication, challenging directions, etc. Read on…
Name: Mercury Mike
Introduction Platform: Bumble
Age: 63
Relationship Status: Not 100% sure. I do know that he was widowed when one of his sons was 12 because he told me that in the context of part of our conversation, but I also know that his kids are grown and in their 20s now, so I’m guessing he’s had a significant relationship since then? He has two grown sons and a grown stepdaughter - they all live close by.
Job: CFO for a humungous tech company. He doesn’t know that I know the company, but he was easy-ish to sleuth and find out. He’s been a major player in a few of the world’s biggest tech companies. These are household names that everyone knows. Like, if this guy had gotten caught in Coldplay’s kiss cam scenario, the tech world would be ROCKED even harder than it already has been lately. Ha!
Lives: In a super exclusive fancy-pants neighborhood that’s very easily confused with another fancy neighborhood on the other side of town from where I live. This is Mercury Mix-up #1. We’d been messaging here and there since I’d remade my Bumble profile and we made a little bit of a last-minute plan yesterday to have a quick meet-up after my regular volunteer event downtown. He’d told me he lives in a certain neighborhood that’s about 20 minutes south of downtown, but I got it mixed up with another neighborhood with a very similar name that’s downtown-adjacent. Like, 5 minutes from where I was. Anyway, I was wrong and it took him 20+ minutes to get to where we ended up meeting.
Length of Date: 40 minutes!
We Did: So, we met for a drink. But OMG, it was NOT easy to make this happen! So, like I said earlier, we messaged here and there via Bumble and then finally got to the point where we both were like, yes! Let’s meet up! I told him on Saturday night that I was going to be downtown on Sunday morning doing my volunteer work, but I would be free after that if he wanted to meet me downtown (because I thought he already lived downtown-ish and it would be super easy to just meet up!). I also told him that the Bumble app was giving me some issues on my phone, so I gave him my phone number just in case. I did the volunteer stuff, checked my phone (nothing from Mercury Mike), and then set off on my long walk that I normally do. I walked over to the special smoothie shop about a mile and a half from my starting point and got myself a protein bowl. Did my normal window shopping and then happened to look down at my phone to see a message from Mercury Mike. He’d left a message nearly an hour earlier! I never saw/heard anything (the retrograde?), but I sent him a reply to tell him that I was still around and if he wanted, we could still meet up. He messaged me back and said sure! And asked me if 2:45 would work (it was almost 2pm) and I said yes, but that I only had until 4:00 (because I had to pick up Martini at daycare). I gave him a location that he agreed to and started walking to the cute little restaurant downtown. I got there super early, but went inside to the bar to cool down on a super hot afternoon. I was 20 minutes early (2:25pm) and texted him, telling him to take his time but that I’d gotten there early and I was sitting at the bar. THIRTY minutes later, he sent me a text: “You said 4, correct?”. I answered immediately: “No. I said I have UNTIL 4!” Ughhhh. Mercury. He said, “Ugh. Leaving now.” And then I looked up where he was coming from on the map and realized that there’s ANOTHER neighborhood that is nearly the same name as the neighborhood I was thinking he was coming from and it would take him 20 minutes to get to where I was. That would leave us less than an hour to meet and greet! So I texted him back telling him that I would wait but that we wouldn’t have much time. He immediately called me and said he was pulling out of his driveway and asked if I still wanted to meet, and I said…a little reluctantly, “sure.” He fiiiiinally made it about 25 minutes later. Needed 5ish minutes to find parking. We ordered drinks (he, a beer and me, a Virgin Mary) and an appetizer and immediately started talking. It was fast and furious and …wait until the end!
He Looked: Super cute, actually. Could tell he is very young at heart. He was wearing a backwards baseball cap, jeans that fit him quite nicely, and a great-looking casual golf-type shirt (seems to be the uniform around here). Thick gray hair, gray beard, friendly smiling eyes, athletic body, great everything.
I Looked: I had worn a summery dress and a hat yesterday to wear to my downtown volunteer event. I always love to dress a little uniquely to give my unhoused friends some things we can talk about in addition to the pop-up clothing we give away. Plus, it looked appropriate enough to wear to a first meet with someone, though by the time we actually met, I wasn’t looking so fresh after walking a few miles, having a snack, window shopping and then walking back in the hot sun. Oh well.
Convo: We seemed to mesh quickly and quite well. Probably because it felt like we were on a timer. We both had a lot to say! He’s lived all over the US as have I and we did a lot of comparison and contrast. We compared a bit of our work situations, though I am not in the tech space, we had some funny similarities. Just a fantastic (to me), flowing conversation that left me wanting more! He disclosed some fascinating tidbits about the CEO of his company and we laughed a bit about the Coldplay scandal, yada yada. But our conversation ended abruptly when I looked at my watch and it was nearly 4:10! I had to immediately split or Martini was going to end up in doggy jail at her daycare when it closed at 5! So, boom. It was over too soon.
High Point: When he finally made it, I was pleasantly surprised. He looked and seemed better than his profile photos. That’s always a plus.
Low Point: Alllll of the miscommunication happening! It had to be Mercury, right?! See next bullet!
How It Ended: Soooo, I got up to say goodbye, maybe give him a hug and then leave him there to square up the tab (he’d told me on the phone that he’d buy me a drink when he finally got there) and we’d ordered an appetizer. So I assumed he’d stay to take care of it all after I left. But he got up to walk me out, and I didn’t think much of it. I thought he was a gentleman to walk me out the door to say goodbye. So we bid our quick goodbyes outside, no hug or anything, just a quick “see ya.” and I turned to briskly walk back to my car - about a 10 minute walk. But he called out after me to say thanks for having a drink and the appetizer…and I turned around to see him walking in the other direction. He did NOT turn to walk back into the restaurant - he was walking AWAY from the restaurant! And I didn’t think a whole lot about it until I got about half a block away and realized that maybe we’d just DINED AND DITCHED?!!! Did we? Did he just walk the other way and neither one of us went back in to pay?! I want to think he finally realized what had happened, but I was also in a freaking rush to get to my car! Ughh. We may have accidentally dined and ditched, and if that’s the case, I blame Mercury…AGAIN!
Chances Are: Not sure? I did send him a little meme about Mercury in Retrograde after I’d gotten home and settled in, and he told me that he went to the golf course after we said goodbye and that maybe Mercury was to blame for his score…but no mention of seeing each other again.
Date Rating: Considering all of that, I feel like this date is a strong B due to the fact that it’s a crazy story and I liked the guy so much! Weird, right? Mercury for sure.
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