The Sisterhood of the Magic Dress and Date #37: Yoga Dad

Are you going to wear your pretty dress? You know, the "magic dress"? Asked Mimi, who has been my daily, sometimes even hourly, email companion and co-commiserator as I try to keep my head above water while swimming in the dating pool. Even though she lives in NYC and we've never met in person, she knows more about me and my rendezvous than a lot of my friends whom I see on a regular basis.

Ah, the magic dress. It's nothing special, and it's not even new. I bought it at Target (they don't even have it in stock anymore but this picture is similar) over a year ago, thinking it would be good to take to Paris with me because the material is soft and springy and it wouldn't need ironing (that dress didn't make it to Paris and I forgot all about it until recently). It's black with a faint pattern and it wraps across the front, which creates a nice v-neck and shows just the right amount of cleavage.

I finally pulled it out of the closet a few men ago, after realizing that I've never worn a dress on a date. Why, after 30-plus dates, hadn't I ever worn a dress? Well, mostly because I am not a dress-wearing kind of girl. I'm tall and my legs are long, and they seem to be too white even in the summer and I don't like to wear hose, and, well, pants just feel more flattering and less fussy. Plus, I'd feel kind of overdressed in it on a first-meeting coffee date, where most of the men here wear jeans or even shorts, as if I were too eager or trying to call attention to myself.

So, after discussing it with Mimi, I decided to wear the dress on a second date. The first time I did that, I was invited to Madrid, and the second time I wore it, the man asked if he could get us a hotel room! It didn't take me long to realize that the reaction to me in this dress is quite favorable. It's a great second-date outfit, because once the man and I have established that we share some chemistry, it allows me to present myself as a serious yet sexy woman, thanks to the wizardry of the bosom-enhancing drape in front.

Yoga Dad wanted to go for a walk on the beach, so of course I didn't wear the dress for our first meeting. But, just evoking the image of it in my head must have worked some special mojo, because it was a most excellent date! I got to the designated meeting spot early, got myself a cup of tea, and waited in a rear corner so I could watch him approach. Just before he arrived, however, my cell phone rang and I answered it, totally missing his entrance. A moment later, I glanced up and suddenly there he was, leaning towards me. We looked directly into each other's eyes, and my heart skipped a beat. He was really cute! Much better looking than his picture. We walked down the steep steps to the sand where there was a wedding ceremony just finishing up. Yoga Dad then further impressed me by helping a few little old ladies leaving the scene in their dresses and high heels up to the stairs from the sand. We walked and talked and made each other laugh. We stopped to watch the sunset. He held my hand. Then he asked me to dinner. After dinner there was live music and dancing, and then some kissing. At the end, he asked me out for a second date. Guess what I'll be wearing?