Dating Diaries Update

Editor’s note: In an effort to protect the privacy of our diarists’ dates, our updates are on a slight time delay.

Meet our daters: Mark Drapeau | Dana Neill | Sally Colson Cline | Michael Amesquita | Kate Searby | Max Schwartz | Lucas Wall

It may be chilly outside, but things are starting to warm up for our Dating Diarists. Dana Neil still feels sunny about Florida Guy. And Lucas Wall hopes his new man doesn’t get cold feet. Will the forecast include any sizzle?

Michael Amesquita ventured into uncharted territory when he went to a party with a single mom he’d met at church, “She’s the first person I ever went out with who has kids,” he says, adding that they had a good time: “She’s a strong member of the church, which is really important. She has really good energy. She’s very willing to share. She smiles a lot. She has a good sense of humor. She puts things out there that are important to her. She came in a van and she just said, ‘That’s me. I’m a soccer mom.’ She’s very matter of fact about who she is.” 

And the kiddos? “People asked me if the kid thing scared me off, but not really,” says Amesquita. “I want to have kids eventually. And a few years ago, my mom pointed out that I was getting to the age where women would have kids. Thanks for the subtle hint, Mom. So I’d like to go out with her again.”

Dana Neil saw Florida Guy again. “We’re enjoying spending time together,” she says. “Who knows where it’s going? There’s no exclusive talk. It seems to be going at a slow pace. That’s fine with me. The ones who are so exciting in the beginning seem to crash and burn right after that.”

Neil also went out on a spur-of-the-moment date. “I wasn’t sure if it was a friends thing or not,” she says. “I’m still not sure. He’s newly divorced, and I think he’s getting his feet wet. The guys who come out of divorces want to play around a little bit. They want to date around. Do they want to date younger women? Do they want to just play? I’ve done my playing.”

Is grabbing coffee a date? That’s what Max Schwartz wants to know. He met up with the law student again and says, “It went as well as coffee ever goes. Finding time is hard, but who has any idea what getting coffee on a Sunday afternoon means? Is that really a date? What does that signify on the is-she-interested-in-me scale? I guess eventually we’ll stack up enough semi- or noncommittal coffees to know what’s going on.”

Schwartz also met a friend of a friend and is planning on giving her a call this week.

Still on a dating hiatus, Sally Colson Cline has been “going out and spending a lot of time with friends.”

Mark Drapeau had a second date with Finance Girl. “We share a love of talking about wine and food, and that made time fly,” he says. “I had a short-lived profile on Match.com, and this is the one person I met who really caught my eye. We have a lot in common with regard to where we are in life and where we think we want to go.”

Kate Searby and some friends threw a big party. Republican Guy showed up. “All my friends loved him and he got along with everyone,” she says, but she has no dating plans this week and is just recovering from the party.

Lucas Wall went to a gala put on by his new guy’s grad-school program. “I met some of his classmates, all of whom were friendly and didn’t bat an eye over him having a male date,” says Wall. “It was an extremely hetero affair. Most of my friends are gay and most of my social events are in queer environments, so this was certainly something different to do for a date.”

But clearly it all went well because both Wall and his new guy will be traveling, and they agreed to pet-sit for each other. “That definitely seems like another baby step toward a relationship,” says Wall. “I’m a little anxious about where this is all leading. I haven’t felt this close to forming an official relationship since I’ve lived in Washington. I’d definitely like to pursue that, but I’m nervous. I hope he doesn’t get cold feet. If we make it past two months, I tend to think there’s a strong chance this could develop into a long-term relationship.”

See the previous Dating Diary update here.

Kelly DiNardo