Saturday, 20 February 2016.
Day 62
Right after Date #15, Anna is busy again.
That’s OK, because she has planned her weekend in such a way that she’ll have all Sunday to relax, sleep and pamper herself – in order to be energetic and excited to meet Christian in the evening.
Finally!!
The holidays have started – spring break, yay – so there’ll be lots of chilling time. No stress. So what if I’m tired today?
She checks her phone for Christian’s messages.
There’s one from Giovanni, LOL. To be honest, other messages just don’t interest her enough at the moment.
This is what Christian writes:
13:43 Good morning!! Hope you slept in the end, after all that waxing and selfie taking. 😊 I didn’t until after 4 am, so feeling tired now.
Cold better though.
In a hurry with the laundry here.
And getting ready to walk the dog… Gonna walk him to grandma’s to meet my mom and daughter there soon. 😊
I’ll text you later.
Snowing in Helsinki and looking nicer.
But I think it’s going to melt…🙁
Anna goes back upstairs from the laundry, humming as she opens the door to her flat.
“Hi, JB!”
The jack russel/chihuahua mix, James Bond, aka JB, receives her as excitedly as she’s feeling herself. He’s too darn cute, this adorable little doggie!
“Vamos passear? É, vamos passear.”
JB goes wild with joy. He knows that they’re going out for a walk. He understands Portuguese.
“Beijinho, JB, beijinho!” — and he licks her face – head over heels in love with Anna. Or so she believes…
And that feels good.
Anna’s read somewhere that every single time a pooch sees its owner, the familiar scent activates the dogs’ caudate nucleus – the part of the brain that lights up in humans when we anticipate things we enjoy… Our dogs have a positive association with our scent, so they feel love as we do. Isn’t that just awesome?
Ah JB, JB!
Strong-willed, playful, smart and social.
Dignified, loyal and affectionate.
Hmm…
…I wonder if I’ll find a boyfriend like you out there? 😊
When Anna’s feeling good, JB is great company – though he can act quite nonchalant at other times, too. Huh.
Then, when she’s sad and crying, he cuddles up and won’t let go of her all night long. There’s such empathy in this tiniest of beings – our James Bond, beloved!
Anna is feeling as happy as JB to go out for a walk. Life is good!
They walk 4k to her granny’s neighborhood, Kallio, where Mummo Anna, Riitta, Kristiina and Anna have evening tea and a good time together.
Then, just as she is walking James Bond back home past the market square in Hakaniemi, she gets a message from Giovanni.
Giovanni is a Canadian-Italian Tinder match with whom she’s been chatting a little this week. He told her he’s just moved to Finland to stay for the next five years, because the company he owns has a multi-million dollar IT contract with one of the biggest grocery stores in the world.
Huh!
Giovanni has been inviting her to dinner in a very gentlemanly manner. He will be going on a business trip to Norway tomorrow, so they’ve agreed to possibly go out when he gets back.
Gentlemanly is always good…
But she wants to meet Christian first. Too confusing otherwise! And this Canadian uses too many LOLs and things like that for her taste!
A little infantile?
Anyway, as I was saying…
Anna is walking the dog past Hakaniemi when Giovanni tells her he’s just arrived back to the Hilton in…
…Hakaniemi!
Oh, really? I’m literally at the corner of your hotel right now! Small world.
Hey, why don’t I come down so we can meet for a quick hi? Give me five minutes!
Spontaneous date? No! This one doesn’t count. Not a proper date – just a hi.
She stands outside the lobby for ten-fifteen minutes. It’s cold and she starts freezing. She hears her name being called, “Hi Anna,” and turns to see Giovanni walking out the hotel door.
“Hi…”
They stand there talking, she’s shaking with cold and grabs JB in her lap to warm up. The dog is shaking, too, poor thing. And uhhh, what is Giovanni saying? It’s hard to pay attention. She’s been caught off guard. He could have warned me!
“Yeah, so dinner two weeks from now, Anna?”
“Uh, why not? Get in touch after your trip!”
Anna does not consider herself to be superficial, uh-uh. So, she has always found it hard to understand why men complain that the women on Tinder are too interested in knowing their height before meeting up.
What is the problem with these women? Why does the man have to be tall?? She used to wonder.
Now she understands. Ahhh…
Maybe it’s not that they have to be tall per se, it’s just that Nordic women are quite tall themselves… so they probably prefer the guy to tower just a little above them?
OK… I see.
Anna is just 161, but Giovanni is at least a head shorter than her. 135?
With heeled shoes.
And he’s trying so hard to look upbeat. He’s doing his best to cause a great impression. Maybe trying too hard?
A couple of weeks later she has already deleted her account on Tinder and feels sad when she thinks he must imagine she’s disappeared because of his height. Oh no! Poor thing!
Danny DeVito’s romantic movie – The OH in Ohio – occurs to her. I recommend it!
And to this day she sometimes wonders how good Giovanni would have been.
He’d probably have valued me, not taken me for granted, not let go, felt lucky, treated me like a Queen; girls just want to feel loved – she smiles at the thought – imagining constant fun rides in his limousine.
© 2017 rf
Obs. Day 62 with a Chinese Date, a Danny DeVito, lots of JB joys and nice expectations.
The Chronicles of a Happy Divorcée 
Activation of caudate nucleus? Hmm, now you are coming in on my territory. I don’t know about dogs, but, Sandy Belle, a big black and very friendly cat sitting with her tail draped over my thigh, definitely has a very active C.N. 🙂
And with length, I couldn’t even imagine the feeling of going out with someone taller than myself, but at 1.91, the probability would probably be slim. 🙂 🙂
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