It is really a lot of fun having friends back on the dating market.  I get to stand back, advise, watch, advise…  A few weeks ago JeanPaul invited some of the single men from work to a singles dance in New Hampshire.  I invited a few  friends to meet his coworkers.  I know – what the heck are we doing at a singles dance?  We love to dance.  As a matter of fact about 1/3 of the people at the dances are couples.   If you arrive at the dance before 9:00 p.m. you get a discount on the admissions.  If you arrive before 8:30 p.m. you get free snacks.  If you arrive at 8:00 p.m. you get a table.  We always arrive at 8 for the trifecta – discount ticket, free food, a seat.    Most of the couples get there at 8:00 p.m.  Once, I was standing in the bar line and a woman asked me if she was in the right place – a friend told her this was a singles dance but she only saw couples.  “Oh”, I said “We come early for the free food.  The singles start arriving around 9.  The hors d’oeuvres  are over there.  Don’t eat the meatballs – they will give you bad breadth.”  I hope she followed my advice.

Before the dance, my friends asked me what they should wear.  Wear a dress and leather sole shoes I told them.  Why?  You are going to meet MEN.  They like WOMEN.  Nothing says woman better than a dress.  The leather soles – another piece of free advice gladly given.  You know all the women on the dance floor sort of swaying side to side, while lifting one foot at a time?  They are wearing rubber soles.  You can’t slide with rubber soles.  You want to glide across the dance floor?  Wear a dress and leather soles.  They did and they all looked lovely.

We all had a wonderful time.  Drinks flowed, women glided across the floor in the arms of strangers, and phone numbers exchanged hands.   One of my friends had chosen to ride with us so on the way home, she chatted about her encounters – who was creepy, who was nice, who she wouldn’t mind seeing again.   And she thanked me for the advice.  Which advice?  Was it the dress, the shoes, the meatballs?  None of the above.  Actually, it was my mother’s advice – updated for the modern world.  Never drink beer out of a bottle.  NEVER.

When a gentleman bought my friend a beer, he hadn’t brought a glass with it.  She asked for a glass and he went to the bar to get one for her.  He didn’t leave her side after that.  Sure, she looked beautiful, her breath was nice and she glided over the dance floor.  After all was said and done, it was the drinking beer out of a glass that caught his heart.  I am sure of it.   As much as we laughed at my mother’s old fashioned advice, she was right.  In a world of women dressing like men, swearing like men, drinking like men,  a woman in a dress drinking beer out of a glass is exotic.

That’s my dating advice for today – be exotic, drink beer out of a glass.  Let me know how it goes…