Oh, Henry!

Thankfully, Henry wasn't put off by my weird reply - which I tried to clear up immediately by texting him again, saying it was a private joke AND that I'd been half asleep.

However, he was extremely busy, it seemed, and so was I.

For more than a week we had several incidents where one of us had an opening for a quick cuppa, but the other didn't. We hadn't even started talking on the phone, only texting each other but by now, a few times a day.

I think I was trying not to get my hopes up too high by refraining from hearing his voice, because I already liked him so much without knowing what he looked like or whether there would be any chemistry between us.

But finally, we both had last Sunday afternoon free and so decided to meet at a cafe near my home. I arrived 'fashionably' late, walked to the middle of the floor and looked around, not quite sure I'd recognize Henry. All I knew was that he was tall, slim and blonde - and I saw no one looking like that in the busy cafe. 

Then I heard a deep, baritone voice saying my name, behind me. I turned around and looked into steel grey eyes, sparkling and surrounded by smile wrinkles. Henry had the most wonderful warm smile.

I sat by his table, ordered tea and we started talking. We talked and talked for over two hours, very philosophically, about everything; life, values, education, human behaviour, love.

Henry sounded incredibly wise and contemplating. He'd divorced eight years earlier and been in a four year long relationship since then. He had two teenage daughters and showed me a picture of them on his phone. He had this distinctive, comfortable presence, very warm and serene.

And he was very honest. He told me he was a recovering alcoholic, had joined Alcoholics Anonymous a year ago, when he'd hit the bottom hard, e.g. lost his drivers license for life.

Had he told me that when we were still only messaging each other, I'd have stopped thinking about him there and then. Not that I don't socialize with recovering alcoholics or have anything against them, but I would have been scared of trying to date one, too much risk.

But, after having spent two hours with him, I didn't care. I didn't care either that he's a smoker, a vice I'd otherwise find a total turn-off. Nope, I didn't care at all, I only wanted to get to know him better and be in his presence for as long as I possibly could. When we had to part, after almost three hours, I was saddened.

I walked him to his bus stop and we agreed we definitely wanted to see each other again, then he winked at me and jumped aboard the bus.

I didn't walk home, because my feet couldn't touch the ground. I was floating. What a man!