And Then Henry Jaglom Showed Up

He asked me to accompany him to a play. More precisely, he asked me to attend the play with him *and* his octogenarian father. I didn't really know what to make of it -- this eyebrow-raising suggestion for a first date. On the one hand, I was tickled frosty pink by the idea, and giddier than a gaggle of suburban housewives at a Chippendales revue at the huge promise of this extravagant blogging gift from the Universe. On the other hand, I pondered the possible reasons why he would choose to have our first date in the midst of a de facto chaperone. Was he just a guy with so little game he didn't think twice about how awkward it might be having a first date with his father there? Or did he have *so* much game, he felt he could take his father along and still have enough charm to dazzle me, should he be so moved? Turns out neither. He's just French.

I met "Frenchy" and his father at the theater to see The Rainmaker. Twenty-five years ago, I had seen a production of this play that, well... let's just say, really didn't move me. As a young woman not yet jaded by the frustrating elusiveness of lasting love, I couldn't relate to the play's 20-something "spinster" Lizzie, who takes a leap of faith and lets go of her spinster mindset to transform into a beautiful, desirable woman. But now, after having recently undergone a similar transformation of sorts -- the one many women go through when they get divorced -- I really enjoyed the play and how much its themes resonated with me. Frenchy and his father did too.

Afterward the three of us talked to some of the actors with whom Frenchy had worked on a previous play, including the woman who played the lead character "Lizzie" and Henry Jaglom, a producer of the play. As a feminist who gave up on Henry Jaglom's movies 15 years ago due to his exasperatingly heavy-handed take on women, I pondered the metaphorical significance of this notorious womanizing gasbag. Is it a bad omen when Henry Jaglom makes a brief cameo appearance during one of *my* first dates? Or is it just the Universe punking me by crudely juxtaposing a notorious womanizing gasbag next to my date to really highlight his attributes?

I choose to believe it's the latter. After bidding Frenchy's father adieu, the two of us went out for a drink and got to know each other a little better. I ended up having a really nice first date with a warm, funny, creative guy who is close to my age and a parent like me. Despite what on paper sounded like an unpromising first date, it turned out to be one of the most promising first dates I've had. As a writer, I love the surprising twist in a story. As an online dater, I love that the joke's not always on me.