blind dating

So. Nikki and I have been doing a bit of church hopping lately. You know how it goes: You have a basic idea of what you are looking for in a church. You want the church to be charming, you want to have some good chemistry with the church, and you want it to feel natural. Pretty much, church hopping is like blind dating. You know a little bit about the church, but as you pull into the parking lot, you can't help but judge the church by how it looks. Is this a traditional church? Is is trendy or edgy? You had spent a lot of time getting ready, and you want so badly for the day to go well. You picked out the perfect outfit. You made sure your hair was just right. Your mind is racing. You start to feel a little self-conscious. Did I overdress? As you walk through the front door, you have no idea what to expect. Will they like me? You hope to yourself that if everything else falls through, that at the least the snacks will be worth showing up for. To avoid an awkward, shallow conversation with the greeter, you head straight for the snack table. After pounding down a few donut holes, you decide to head for an unclaimed pew with coffee in hand. The usher smiles, and you politely smile back. Deep down, you are wondering if someone can really be that happy to be handing out pastel-colored church picnic announcements. You could have spent several more minutes pondering this, but you are distracted by a smell. Now, let's be honest. Every church has a smell. It is usually something pleasant, but overpowering: potporri, a large, vanilla candle, or maybe some insense. Whatever the smell, you can be sure it was put there by some well-meaning old lady, and it definitely is not subtle. In spite of it all, you sit down in your pew, and you begin to look around. WHERE ARE ALL THE PEOPLE? You decide that you must have come on an 'off-night'. All of a sudden, a man begins to walk up to the podium. It's the pastor. You can't help but wonder, could he be the one?...

So, pretty much, we are still looking for a church. In other news, Nikki still has no friends in Colorado (except her 2nd graders), and really isn't trying that hard. She seems to be bonding with the 40-somethings who teach at her school. There could be something there. As for me, I keep on working too many hours at the office, while miraculously finding time to trade stocks online, risking money we can't afford to lose. Other than that, this is probably the last time I will ever write a blog, because it ended up pretty long, and only about one sixth as funny as it was in my head before I wrote it.

Peace and love,

Dave