My Irish Interaction

Dublin, Darling!

In this new chapter of my dating, I committed to no dating apps and no seeking relationships; anything that happens, happens. Well, last time I was in lovely Ireland, my Tinder was still in full swing. I swiped the entirety of the 8 days I was in the lush land of Ireland, from Dublin to Kilkenny, Kilarney to Dingle, The Ring of Kerr to Galway. 

Several guys that added me on Snapchat kept up with me occasionally on posts I would make or comments on posts they sent into cyberspace. One guy, in particular, was a sarcastic sort with a kind heart and even kinder eyes. He messaged me as soon as he saw I was in Dublin again.

“Aye! You’re back? I’m not in Dublin tonight, but will be back Monday.”

“Man, you’ll just have missed me! I leave Monday morning.”

“Aww, next time. You came right back though, it seems.”

Our conversation continued as he was intrigued by my ability to float from Ireland to Italy, from Denmark to Spain. Then, the floodgates were opened and we talked about everything under the sun on the same side of the world we resided. 

Politics (other countries are so intrigued about Trump and how we elected him to rule our country), democracy, economics, kids, relationships, beer, careers, university, family dynamic, past jobs, Cinema, our individual personality flaws, lingo, accents…. until wee hours into the morning.

The night I went on the bar crawl of Madrid, he was out drinking pints with his friends and sent me two drunk pictures. One, he was cute as a button, with a smug look and the other was him shirtless, which he was embarrassed about the next morning. Apologizing profusely, he said  he’s much more of a gentleman than that. I thought it was sweet how apologetic he was and concerned with my level of comfort. Flirting ignited and we responded and quite a rapid pace.

One day, we took the other on a virtual tour of our current location. Via snapchat, we sent videos and pictures of the scenery, people, and activities in our current venturing spot.

I sent him pictures of the village of Tres Cantos and I ventured one Sunday evening. And he was thrilled to be “teleported to Spain.”
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We began messaging every day and he mentioned taking me on a date if I were there. My response that “I’m not very far” didn’t amount to anything my fairy tale heart had imagined. 

I mean, I have weekends off and I love Ireland… 

At first, he liked the idea, and things seemed mutual. He glowed about places he could take me and things we could do. The idea was exciting, and it was quite nice to have someone just an hour apart I could talk to. We had an uncanny amount of things in common, we loved each other’s accents, he was familiar with what part of Ireland my dad’s side of the family was from, “The Daly’s” before they migrated (yes, like birds, we fly!) to the Irish Channel in New Orleans during the famine. We laughed about differences in dialect and slang and our plans in life.

We even shared a similar experience with our most recent relationship. He got into a relationship too quick and it didn’t work out. He had to break up with her before her feelings for him overcast his feelings for her. He empathized when I shared my knee-jerk reaction to enter a relationship before leaving for the abroad chapter of my life. “You aren’t even going to return to the same place? How could that–” 

“I know. You just don’t know how he looked at me, or how it made me feel.”

“Yes, that happens… but I think you watch too many romance movies.”

Ahh, the truth that I am not going to allow the world to corrupt my bleeding fairy tale heart, I have no shame:))
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Still excited about the trip, he did want to be respectful of my time here. “Are you sure you want to go back to Ireland instead of another country?”

“If I have someone cool to spend it with– of course! Besides, Ireland is my favorite thus far, anyway!”

I could feel him smiling through the phone. We continued to flight and allude to plans. “Okay, if you’re sure. :)”

Then, that is until I made the statement, “well, if it goes well, you know what that means…”

“What?”

​”Next time, you come visit me.”

Then, the notorious back-peddling

” Well, I don’t get many holidays and I am going to Australia in May….”

“Yeah, but this is only January, silly. Coders don’t get weekends off?”

Radio Silence.

“I need to think about this.”

Immediately, I screen-shot the progression in conversation and sent it to my Irish friend, Nicola. She gave me the down-low on Irish men and why she prefers Americans and other foreigners. We agreed he wouldn’t go the distance, literally. She reminded me, lightheartedly about my blog and how I need to focus on that with guys ALL OVER Europe.

 With a response to no surprise, he stressed he doesn’t get many holidays and is not at all adventurous and…

I responded pleasantly and just said, “don’t worry about it. Like I said, it’s in my personality to be really excited about things. I had no intention to come on too strong and that’s totally understandable.”

He continued to talk to me and engage in great conversation the next couple nights in a row. I would try to go to sleep and then he would pull me back in with something I couldn’t resist commenting on or giving a snarky response to.

Putting myself back into the game of dating myself and engaging with new people in new places, I accepted the great conversation was just that. I joked that he would eventually make an appearance on my blog. 

Naturally, he wasn’t taken with this idea but…. as always, I do what I want ;))

Since we were on a roll, I decided this fair-skinned sweetie earned Irish Whiskey Truffles.

Ingredients:

1. 1 pound dark chocolate, finely chopped (or chocolate chips)
2. 1/3 cup heavy cream.
3. 2 tablespoons butter.
4. 1/3 cup whiskey.
5. 1 teaspoon sea salt.
6. optional: unsweetened cocoa powder or sprinkles for rolling.

Warm cream in microwave for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Pour over chocolate and cubed butter; stir until combined. Slowly, stir in whiskey and drink remaining of bottle. WHOOPS. Wasn’t supposed to make this a play-by-play ;))

Refrigerate until solidified or, if you lack patience, and now whiskey, put in freezer until solidified. Do not allow to freeze solid. Scoop fudge-like mixture into tablespoon dollops and roll into ball with lightly cocoa dusted hands. Then roll into bowl of cocoa or sprinkles or nuts (because we all are)

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