OK.

So you all know I have tried that whole Online Dating Thing. With mixed horrible interesting results.

But being your basic rose-colored-glasses wearing depressed optimist here, I have continued to meet and greet those other singles of a certain age … those of us who don’t quite think that hanging in bars is the answer to finding true happiness in life.

So. What is the latest?

Oh, come on … you didn’t think I’d *really* share stuff like that, now did you? It’s me after all.

But I will tell you this much. I’ve started to wonder if there might not be a Dating God up there somewhere urging me on.

Not saying I’m seeing burning bushes or anything, but there was this road sign the other day. Should have taken a picture I suppose.

I was driving down a country road … deeply pondering my status in life … wondering what my next move dating-wise ought to be … and actually was on my way to meet someone for lunch.

Much safer. Lunch. Public place. You avoid so many more of those ax-murderers that way. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself.

At any rate, I’m driving down said road … thinking about my choices in life … when on the side of the road was a sign. An electronic sign. One of those programmable ones that tells you about impending danger and road construction.

No, not that one. Although it was similar.

Nope, not that one either. That would have required the signs ability to enter my subconscious pre-counseling-days type brain. And I don’t think that is even possible.

No, this sign said “If you don’t try, you’ll never know.”

Interesting.

God talks through road signs now?

Kind of a Carpe Diem for the automotive set or something?

Reminded me of another time when I kind of felt there was Someone Up There giving me a message.

Back when I met Red in Ohio … he an eighty-something white-haired man … me a thirty-something newly divorced woman … and the words he shared then.

(He) walked up to me, looked deeply into my eyes, took my hands, and calmly imparted the words that haunt me to this day.

As though he was giving me the secret keys to a life he had lived and a lesson he had learned at great cost.

“Be Free, young lady. Be Free.”

I’ve always tried to listen to the experience of those who have “been there”. Not that I always take their advice, but I value the experience that got them to give the advice.

And that idea … from above? … to Be Free … physically … mentally … emotionally … has spoken to me over the years.

The whole boomer-dating-lunch thing came to an abrupt end … with a stark reminder of our brief time here on earth.  And of the importance of living life to the fullest.

So. Lunch. Hearing stories … sharing stories … adventures taken … memories made … lives lived well … and then …

At the end of the day … a text came in to the phone of the person who was my lunch companion. That a close friend of his had been diagnosed with advanced cancer.

Reality. With a vengeance.

Driving home. Thinking of it all. Checked my computer. Only to see a new message from a life long friend. Cancer. Imminent Surgery. Impending Chemo. Hopes for the best. Not for public consumption yet … with the comment:

I am telling a very select few whom I’ve always felt a close bond with.

I’m going to look funny without hair.

Oddly enough, this same friend’s life story had come up during lunch … as yet another example of people living their lives to the fullest. Casting aside fears. Taking opportunities as they presented themselves.

Did I mention that he is a minister?

“I’m going to look funny without hair” Even in the midst of facing the biggest challenge of life thus far … a sense of humor.

And a reminder that life is for living … to the fullest.