My Mom Set Me Up and I Lived to Tell About It

My mom is my best friend. Gilmore Girls-style. I talk to her every day on the phone, which I admit is a tad weird, but it works for us and she is the only person who will listen to my rambles. I’ve witnessed phone conversations with my friends and their moms and they also share far too many details, validating my abnormal relationship.

Anyways, a few weeks ago my mom called me up and said, “So my best friend’s son is moving to town and you should go on a date with him.” I paused and said something along the lines of, “Ew, I refuse to be set up by you.” But eventually after seeing his blonde and cute Facebook profile, came around and agreed to it.

Two years ago, I would have retorted with, “Um, mom. Remember my boyfriend? He drives a motorcycle AND is moving to LA to make films. He’s super hot.” Also, the fact that I was calling “movies,” “films” shows you just how jaded I was at the time.

My grown-up self has a bit more snap and realizes that just because a guy claims he’s going to make it big, probably means he’ll end up doing something like selling balance bands from a mall kiosk.* While I’m still attracted to far too many guys without jobs, I now know that I shouldn’t waste time with someone who doesn’t want the same things out of life that I do.

*True story.

Before we went out, I said something like, “But moooooom, he’s so old. He’s probably balding.” To which she replied, “Yeah, and how’s it going dating clowns in their early ’20s?” Touché, mom. Touché.

He isn’t old or balding, actually, and it turns out that being a 27-year-old means that you aren’t a pansy when it comes to dating.

Oh and he paid. With real money, earned from his fancy-pants accounting job. If my memory serves me right, I paid for my first date with movie man. I justified it with something like, “He thinks I’m independent enough to pay for us both. He’s so hot.”

It’s possible that the accountant’s chivalry was mostly because he knew his mom would find out from my mom if he wasn’t a gentleman, but either way, it was nice.

The point of this story is that maybe our moms know us better than we think and that it might not be such a bad idea to listen to them on occasion. You let your friends set you up on blind dates, so why not your mom?

The accountant and I are very different and I’m still debating if I’d like a second date, but it was a lovely night. It was better than every single other date I’ve suffered through this year and I think my mom deserves some credit for pairing me with a good guy. Even if I don’t want to admit that I’m a bit (or a lot) scattered at times and that I’m somewhat of an attention hog, she knows these things about me and can see that I need someone who will balance me out. While I might have seen the accountant as tame at first, he could just be the calm to my chaos.

Next time you’re home ask your mom if she knows any single guys. You might be pleasantly surprised.

You can read more from Kristen Wiley on her blog and follow her on Twitter.

Feature image Courtesy of Warner Bros.