Today I had my first-ever blind date. But it’s probably not what you’re thinking.

Ever since we moved to Ireland we’ve been blown away by the kindness and hospitality of the Irish people. Everyone here is just so…nice. It has been fun meeting new people but, with two demanding children always attached to my hip, it’s also a bit difficult to get out and socialize. Sometimes even grown-ups need some help making new friends. So, my “blind date” went down like this:

Jon has a coworker who has a girlfriend who has a friend that lives near me. The Girlfriend gave me a call yesterday and said that she’d like to introduce me to The Friend (another mom of 2 little ones about the same ages as my boys). Arrangements were made. The date was set.

We all decided to meet up at The Girlfriend’s house–neutral territory. I’d never met The Girlfriend in person, either, so it was almost a double-blind date. Talk about adventurous. I was running about 10 minutes late so, naturally, I was the first one to arrive (I’m still trying to figure out this whole “Irish Time” thing. For someone as finicky about punctuality as myself, it’s going to take some getting used to). The Girlfriend welcomed me and my children into her home and laid out a spread of tea, coffee, pastries and sweets (scones with jam and cream graced the table yet again). The Girlfriend doesn’t have any children, so she went out of her way to buy toys for the kids to play with at her house. How nice is that? I think that if I’d invited somebody with children over to my house when I was in a pre-baby state I would have just thrown some pots and pans down on the kitchen floor and told the kids to go to town. But, no, she actually bought Legos and bubbles so the kids would be entertained. Amazing.

After awhile The Friend arrived and I got to meet her and her two darling children, a 2-year old girl and a 4-month old boy. She was so…nice. As we were talking we discovered that she, literally, lives across the street from me. She’s my neighbor. What a small, small world this can be! Her daughter even attends the same preschool that David will be starting at next week (which, by the way, she had nothing but nice things to say about). We exchanged phone numbers and, I can honestly say, I will be calling her (does the “2 day rule” apply to friend-dating?).

In all, it was a great first “date”. I met a new neighbor-friend, ate my fill of scones, and got to play with bubbles. I also got to clean up a lot of spilled bubbles. Maybe for our next date we’ll leave the kids at  home.