The Brit.

It has been a while, hasn't it?

For the first time since I left Mike and our life back on the East Coast (almost a year ago now!), I met someone that made me stop and kind of act like a school girl with a bit of a crush.

I hesitate to talk about it too much, and I haven't really told anyone but my two sisters, because who knows - it may turn into absolutely nothing.  But regardless of the result, the fact of the matter is that I felt something again.  (That sounds sooo corny once I type it, but I don't know a lesser way to say it.)

Wow.

I had been conscious of the fact that my heart and my emotions were closed off, and I had been conscious of the fact that I have built a taller wall around myself than ever before.  But until I actually interacted with this man this past week and allowed myself to first- be interested, and then- to accept that the interest was mutual, I had not realized exactly how far I had stepped out of the Emotions Ring.

So like I said, regardless of the outcome, I am grateful to say I have a little crush right now.

And in true girl fashion, now that I've walked all around the edge of the story, I'll actually share how it unfolded.

Back at the end of September, I went to one of my best girlfriend's weddings.  I had a really good time with my other nearest girlfriends and their husbands, and I seriously hardly raised my head to look around at who else was in attendance.  I know, I know, weddings are meant to be great places to meet people, but I was really just in my own world that day.

With the exception of the part of the reception where speeches were being given.  While standing and listening to the speeches, I found myself standing next to a guy that I didn't even glance at (again, in my own world), until I heard him speak.  Hellooo, British accent.  You know we're all weak in the knees for those.

So I turn to the guy, who I guess we can call The Brit.  I turn to The Brit - who is not my physical type generally at all, by the way - and chat him up for a moment.  He chats back, and then to be honest, I don't recall what happened after that.  We went our separate ways, no big deal.  But he did have a charisma about him that I remembered and thought was cool.

Flash forward to last week when I traveled to San Francisco with my girlfriend, Emily, who was the bride at the aforementioned wedding.  She and I were in the city for the week seeing clients, and so we went to dinner together on Halloween night.  As we were in the cab going to the restaurant, she mentioned that The Brit would be joining us.  I had a little tinge of excitement but then internally rolled my eyes at myself - I don't really even know this guy.

Well, The Brit joined us for dinner, and then took us out to a bar in the Marina District for some after-meal cocktails.

Over cocktails, we started in on a conversation about something totally unrelated from anyone at the table, and the flow of topic caused me to say, "No, I think that's bullshit.  I don't care if it's 2012, women should not have to be the aggressors.  Men should still have to make the first move."  To which The Brit replied quickly (in his nice British accent of course), "Ahright then, I think you're really hot."

I was so flustered, I forced myself to choke down my sip of wine, and I'm sure my face turned as red as my Zinfandel.

Anyways, long story short, Emily wanted to go home, so we dropped her off at the hotel, and The Brit and I continued out.  We chatted and kissed until 3 in the morning (wayyy past my bedtime!), and we've been sporadically texting/facebook/instagram flirting which feels both juvenile and kind of fun.

He lives in San Francisco, so I don't know that this will go anywhere at all, but I am actually interested to the point that I keep debating when is "right" to text him back and whatnot.

So lame, but I gotta say that it feels nice to be semi-back into the game.  

Even if I do mildly feel like I'm acting like a 14 year old.