Where I'll Be

Tonight my granddog is staying overnight, and when my son and his girlfriend dropped the dog off, I told them to make sure to write down the phone number and address of the friend I'm having lunch with tomorrow -- just in case I'm never heard from again. They laughed, but I was only half kidding. When I used to do the online dating thing, I always had to tell at least one friend where I was going and what the guy's phone number was. Maybe those two situations don't seem analogous, but I think they are.

I'm meeting a new friend for lunch tomorrow and this will be our "first date". We did have coffee together briefly after we first met a month ago, but in both platonic and romantic relationships, I like to have a public first date. The problem is that she wants to cook food from her culture (she was born in Russia and lived much of her life in France, and then moved to Canada before coming to Florida two years ago) for me, so she's invited me to her apartment to have lunch with her and her husband. I can relate to that; I love to cook Italian food for friends, family, anyone really (despite Ancestry DNA's claim that if I'm celebrating my heritage I should be cooking lutfisk). So I'm okay with going to the apartment of someone I don't really know, at least this one time. I'm sure the three of us will have a lovely lunch and make plans to meet again soon. Nonetheless, I'm leaving contact information with my son. Better safe than sorry. If I end up being human-trafficked, at least he'll have a lead to start off the investigation.