After Linda, I would have a run of J-Daters, beginning with Susan.
Susan was attractive, with reddish brown hair and some freckles.
She lived in Wayne, which was very close to my former home in Devon. This always opened the possibility of her kids knowing my kids or, God Forbid, her knowing my ex-wife. But then again, I probably would not get lost and could count on her to be at least moderately intelligent and affluent.
When she suggested meeting at Christopher’s in Wayne, I hesitated. I like Christopher’s but it attracted families and was often quite loud. With my hearing aids, I had become much more concerned about the loudness of restaurants.
As it turned out, on Wednesday at six o’clock, the bar only had two other couples, and the dining room was not even half full. Good for me, not so good for Christopher.
We met up and ordered drinks at the bar.
I was glad to quickly learn that her two kids had gone to The Baldwin School, meaning for sure they did not know my family and that she was more than moderately affluent.
Susan looked as good as her picture, but I noticed in person that she was wearing braces, those clear, plastic kind. I was curious, “I couldn’t help noticing your braces, Susan. I always thought that was a teenage thing, but I have seen more and more adults with them. Is that some new fad I’ve missed out on?”
“You noticed, huh? I do think it’s a relatively new fad. The oral health industry needed a new revenue stream, so they now point out to us these imperfections that have occurred as our teeth have gotten older and weaker. But these are much better than the metal ones I had as a kid. I can take these out to eat or brush, and they are a lot less noticeable.”
“How long will you wear them?”
“I’ve had them now about a year and may have another year or eighteen months. And then my teeth will be perfect.”
“Mazel Tov on that.”
I demanded that we have some chicken wings so I could see her remove them, but she went to the lady’s room to do that.
This discussion was the highlight of our night, but I judged Susan to be a bit too pretentious (and affluent?) for my pedestrian tastes.