We clicked within the first few moments and wound up having a charming and fun-filled afternoon. Far more handsome in person than in his picture, he was also smart, funny, artistic and a bit of a Geek.

And Geeks are hawt.

Time raced away from us, and after a covering all the concepts of the world, ducking flying pasta pullers Maccarenaing to "Ole', Ole'," discovering the amazingly adhesive properties of soggy proteins, exhaustion called the day to a close far earlier than either of us would have liked.

I took a look at his schedule and was floored with just how much he crams not just into a day but into a weekend. Coffee, hikes, class, movies, books... A full day, everyday. Even though he was a bit younger than me and part of this cornucopia could be attributed to enthusiasm, I think it also reflected a zest for experience intrinsic to his nature

Or he's just an over-achiever.

I've always thought, and this is one of those conclusions whose sticky-sharp sufferings were created from an amalgam of my half-fears, partial-phobias, and false-framings of experience, that I was somehow far too stunted, jaded, or closed-off ever to meet someone I liked, who liked me, and where there was a possibility for something more.

My reasoning, such that it was, that as a practioner in the psychobabble racket for many, many years, I can usually see Bad News coming within the first few moments of a date. I've tried like mad to find that this is just an ongoing confirmation bias, but much to my annoyance, time and time again my Spider-Sense has been right. "Ain't going to happen," is usually the message lit up on the dashboard of my mind. So when that warning light didn't go off, and when my buddy indicated he felt something akin as well, the surprise grew.

In that secret space behind the heart where the most cherished of things is held fast, I let fester the idea that love would forever remain absent, something for others, but not for me. It's a bullshit, I know, and a powerful bit of false-pride. It was there none-the less. I can recognize this lie in others, and have called friends and clients on it time and time again. It took someone else, as an aside and without intent, to do the same for me.

Surprise, surprise.

Oh, and lest anyone think I'm now madly in love, slay that dragon from your thoughts. An afternoon does not love make. Seeing possibility though, most likely for others and for the future, of such a thing occurring, made the day special.

My Northern Friend and I will hang out again, of that I have no doubt. As real love, requires two people too be roughly at the same place, with similar goals, and direction of travel, given the different stages of life we're both at, he's a earlier on the road than I, a good friendship is the most likely thing to happen.

Provided he can fit me into his schedule.