Dating Update #4059342

So I spent the whole day with this new guy yesterday. The WHOLE day. Sigh. He came shopping with me for my friend's 30th birthday present. Then we came back to my apartment complex and went swimming. Then we went out for Thai food. Then we took a drive, and ended up at Brookdale park in Montclair, where, happenstance upon happenstance, there happened to be a live, free concert from the NYC jazz radio station...some dude named Marion Meadows...his band played lots of instrumental upbeat, funky jazz music, and Marion sang to a few songs. There were tons of people camped out on blankets in the vast field at the park. And keep in mind, this was a totally random find...we did not plan to go to this park, we did not plan to see a free concert. It just happened that way. We had no blanket to sit on, no beach chairs, no bug spray, so we walked around to find a bench...Where we finally settled, we could not see the stage, as the bench was almost directly behind it. Funny thing is, the one time I've been in that park, I sat with Lila for a while on that bench (yes, even she was sitting on it too!), and so I'd been in that exact spot before. But, last night, I felt comfortable, I felt content (not that I don't feel that way when I'm with my doggie, but, still...:)). He caressed my face, held my hand, kissed my forehead, made me feel so cared for. He was kinda nervous; it was cute. We've been talking, almost nonstop, for three days (since our first date at Starbucks Wednesday night). For someone who didn't finish college, he is extremely bright. I don't mean that in a prejudiced way..it's just that I usually feel like I can relate to a guy on a more intellectual, or perhaps more personal level, if he's been formally educated. But, it surprises me quite a bit (pleasantly so, I might add) that this is not the case with this guy. I have no trouble relating to his intellect. It's so intriguing. ...It's the element of mystery, of surprise, of intrigue that gets me almost everytime. After the concert was over last night, we stayed on the bench, holding hands for a while, until too many large bugs started crawling around and on me, and I was sufficiently freaked out to want to move. So we walked, hand-in-hand, toward where we parked the car, all the while enjoying easy conversation, hand holding, laughing, looking at the stars. We got to a clearing in the woods (this park has lots of cool pockets in which to get lost)--a huge circular patch of grass, ringed by enormous trees that open up to a huge expanse of sky. He stops walking next to me, so I stop too. He eases up behind me, puts his arms around me and ducks down (sigh, he's taller than I...) and whispers in a barely audible hush right into my left ear, "Do you think we're alone out here?" Silly girl, I got nervous (in a good way), and didn't know what to say. I am thinking this is his attempt at being romantic, and I don't know if I want to go with it or not. Just like indiscriminant moodiness (this on the part of a former date of mine), ambivalence (this time, on my own part) is a 'potential-relationship' killer. I decided, after some hemming and hawing and distracting of him, that I should go with it and see how I feel. So I did. I told him we should walk out into the center of the field, and look at the stars. It was a crying shame that we had no blanket or towels on which to sit, but in the end, it didn't matter. We found what we thought was the exact center of the circular field, stood together, his arms around me from behind me, and looked at the stars for what felt like hours in a few seconds. He turned me around to face him, and we stood there, in the center of the circular, foresty, pitch dark clearing in Branch Brook Park and he held me, my head against his chest, for what felt like hours and hours and hours. I felt so content. I wanted to melt into his arms and stay there for the whole night (we're not at 'forever' yet)..I was so comfortable, contented, melty, that I could have fallen asleep, right there, standing up, in the center of the field, in the center of his chest, in the midst of his long arms, listening to his heartbeat. When we decided to go, he whispered quietly to me, "Just because we're leaving the park doesn't mean that our night has to end..." So we then came back to my apartment and ate peanut butter cookies and Pepperidge Farm Sausalito cookies and drank big cups of homemade chocolate soymilk. I didn't want him to leave, I sooo wanted to stay the night in his arms, but I made him leave. I'm holding onto my heart this time. In fact, I'm not certain I'm going to lose it at all this time.

He's really nice. So respectful. Very sweet (for lack of a better desciptor right now.) I'm just not sure.

I suppose (someone tell me this is true!) that I have time, TIME, to figure it out...