I met Bobby on the eve of the first Christchurch earthquake, September 2010 – interesting timing, as that’s where he’s from. I’m seated, ordering a drink at the bar when this confident, good looking guy walks up and says, “Hi. Can I buy you a drink?”. Now normally I’d reply with, “I’m good but thanks anyway”. However that night I looked at this guy and went, “Sure, have a seat”. I knew straight away that this guy was okay – that he wasn’t a wowser, a try-hard or a dip-shit….he was a guy I was really keen to get to know, but again I was too serious about it.
Me: “You know there are plenty of single women in this bar and I’ve just finished MCing this party, I’m not here to meet anyone…you should really be talking to them”.
Him: “Well I have done the rounds and chatted to some of the ladies. But right now, I don’t want to talk to anyone else but you.”
Me: “How old are you?”
Him: “26 – why, how old are you?”.
Me: “38 – so, you know, I’m not going to talk about a top I brought at Glasson’s or which character on Shortland Street I really hate. I’m 38 so conversation will be a little different.”
Him: “Have you got any ID?”.
Me: “Sure” and I proudly showed my drivers licence.
He took one look at it and handed it back.
Him: “Well, I never would’ve picked you for 38. And I don’t watch Shortland Street….tell me about yourself”.
And from that one quick glance at my drivers license – Bobby always remembers my birthday. There was definitely some sort of connection there – but it never really amounted to anything. We hung out, ate out, ate in, played pool, talked a lot about everything from karma and spirituality to why John Campbell is better than Mark Sainsbury.
Bobby taught me two things in the time we spent hanging out.
1. That chivalry is not dead. I mean this guy always walked on the outside of me. (Men used to do this back in the day to prevent the lady getting wet should a car drive through a puddle.)
2. That I could be more fun and less serious and enjoy it.
I’ve always had a fun streak, a party girl attitude and love playing wicked games and taking a few risks. I wanted to retain all of that, whilst not take myself too literally and seriously. And somehow this cocky little 26-year-old helped me balance that out just by being around him and seeing how balanced he was/is. You know how you sometimes think people come into your life for a reason? Well that was his for me. Although, I’m still racking my brain to figure out what the reason was for me being in his life. I'm hoping that it was to show him we "older ladies" are not all crusty cougars.
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