Dating Ell-A: Ski Town NYE

Since all my friends were out of town for the holidays or sick, I decided to go skiing by myself for New Year’s at a local resort.  After a couple of days of hitting the slopes and spending time perusing shops in town,  I ended up meeting a girl named Tracey who invited me to join her and her friends at a local bar on New Year’s Eve.  Since I was tired of my own company and was dying to hear some local ski town gossip, I said yes.  (Plus, it was a better alternative than drinking champagne by myself in my room alone…that would have been downright depressing!)

Around 9 pm, I showed up at a local wine bar. Tracey had some friends with her from out-of-town and it was nice to meet new people who were not from the southern California area.  There was Jennifer from San Francisco, John and Matt from somewhere out East, and a sexy Latin man whose name I didn’t catch but should have.

We started off the night drinking with the locals and soon began telling stories of New Year Eve’s past.  Truth be told, this was not my ideal New Years Eve; I had hoped to be somewhere romantic with a handsome man.  However, after a few more glasses of champagne, I was able to rally and have a good time.  Nothing like free alcohol to change one’s perspective on the evening!

Wanting this year to be different than the last, about an hour before midnight, I began praying that my dating luck would change for the better.  I just finished reading a book about visualization and decided to try out a technique from the it.  So, I began to visualize what I wanted to show up after midnight!   I was thinking of cute, hot available men and how much I wanted my dating luck to change. I imagined a dark haired stranger walking up to me and asking, “Where have you been all my life?”   As I continued my visualization experiment, out of the blue, my phone buzzes and a text message from a local bartender I had met earlier in the week reads   “C u as soon as I can break, hope ur arms length at midnight!”

His text made me smile.  Maybe there was something to this visualization thing after all!  I decided to wait for the bartender and see what might happen.  I talked to other locals at the bar, went to the bathroom and thought about texting an old flame just to kill time.  However, after all my attempts to look busy, the bartender was still nowhere in sight.   I guess “C u” had made other plans.  So, at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, I settled for a kiss and a hug from a total stranger.

Maybe it was the energy in the kiss or maybe it was just dumb luck.  Whatever it was, five minutes into the New Year, my dating luck began to change – rapidly.  First, I noticed a guy just staring at me from across the room.  Two seconds after I noticed him staring at me, his friend showed up by my side and said “My friend is a chef and he really likes you.  He wants your phone number … will you give it to me? He said he’d like to cook for you sometime soon.”   Maybe it was the effect of the alcohol or wanting to make this year different than the last, but whatever it was, I said yes and gave him my actual cell number.   “By the way, my friend was also noticing that the guy who had kissed you at midnight is mad and he’s coming your way.  Just wanted you to know!”  With that, the chef’s friend was off.  When I turned around to see who was coming my way, I saw the guy I had just kissed quickly walking towards me.  As I ducked into the ladies room to avoid a confrontation, a text came through on my phone and it said, “Hi, it’s Andrew, the chef.  I apologize for staring at you so much tonight, but I couldn’t help it.  When do you want to go out?”

Then, the visualization game kicked into high gear.   As I slowly made my way out of the ladies room, another text came in from a guy I had met the night before asking where I’d been all his life.  By the time I made it back to the bar, a random drink showed up in my hand, compliments of a guy who was at least a decade younger than me.  As I made my way out to the dance floor to find Tracey and her friends, I was intercepted by yet another young guy who boldly stated, ““Do you want a guy who will be anything you want for the next few months?  If so, I’m your man.  My name is Tom and I’m from Wyoming.”

Wow – this visualization thing was powerful!  If a little visualization is all it takes to start raining men, I’m going to be practicing my new skill all year long!  With the tune of Auld Lang Syne running through my head, I took the hand of the young guy from Wyoming and we made our way across the dance floor for the final ski town NYE dance.  Maybe this year will be a happy new year after all…..

featured image credit: Elin B