He Wasn't Wearing A Ring

"Did you see that guy checking you out?" my little sister, Sharon, asked as we walked out to our car.  She was 20 years old and into watching guys.  I was 31, newly single, and at that moment, blushing.

"No he wasn't," I laughed self consciously. 

"He sure was," she persisted.  "I saw him watching you out of the corner of his eye, and he made a point of checking out your left hand to see if you were wearing a wedding ring. And, I checked out his hand. He was not wearing one."

I laughed it off, but it kind of piqued my curiosity.  Sharon had come with mom to attend Linnea and Holly's piano recital.  We got there kind of late, so Mom and my older children sat on one side of the room, Sharon and Stephen and I sat across the isle from them.  Just before the recital started a man slipped in the back door and took the only seat left, next to me.  I'd noticed him, out of the corner of my eye, but I was busy keeping Stephen quiet, so I hadn't really paid that much attention to him.  Now I tried to remember what he'd looked like.

Tall, dark, handsome.  "Don't be silly," I told myself sharply.  "He must be one of the kids dads, why else would he come to a piano recital, so surely he's married."  Just the same, it tickled my mind.

I'd been single for two months.  It made me feel like I was a teenager again, and I hadn't enjoyed it that much the first time.  I was very busy, taking care of my five children and learning the ropes of teaching first grade, but I had found time to go to a few Church Singles dances.  I wasn't impressed.  It seemed that there was an overabundance of weird, single, thirty-something men out there, but a real shortage of normal guys.  One night I danced with a fellow who whispered in my ear, "I've never kissed anyone with five children before, but I think I could get used to it,";  another guy who's opening line was, "I've got a current temple recommend.  How about snuggling up with me in the Celestial Room?"; and a third man who spent the whole night jumping up and down on the balls of his feet, while we were dancing as well as while we stood at the sides of the room talking.  By the end of the night I was ready to give up on the whole Singles scene. 

The problem was I didn't live in a world where I would normally meet many single men.  I spent all day at the elementary school, there were no available bachelors there. I spent all night taking care of my kids. I spent Sunday with my family or at Church, there was no one available there, either. The only other place I could meet new people was at the grocery store, and how often do you run into a nice, single man shopping while pushing two toddlers in a pushcart and trying to keep track of three other children at the same time?  Most men turned the corner and ran the other way when they saw us coming.

So, I couldn't help myself.  I was interested when Sharon told me the fellow at the piano recital was single.  Why not meet Mr. Right there?