Wal-Mart Has Everything You Need Including Your Next Dating Prospect

The difficulty of adult dating was brought home to me the other
day.

My 20-year-old nephew came to live with me and my kids, until he
can get on his own two feet financially. His hometown – my
hometown is really small… providing little opportunity to
someone looking to get started in life on the right foot.

He spends his days looking for a job, and now and again, he will
slip out in the evening time.

I never really gave much thought about his evening time getaways.
He is an adult – he can do what he wants to do with his own time.

But by chance, I asked him the other evening if he had gone to
that bar that allows 18-year-old’s to enter. He said he had not.
He explained that he did not feel comfortable enough with finding
his way around town, to be able to find the bar without getting
lost.

A bit surprised, I asked him where he went on Friday night…

His answer was even more surprising…

He was going out to meet girls his own age… Starting
conversations in convenience stores, restaurants, and WAL-MART!!!
Until now, I knew that you could find anything you ever wanted at
Wal-Mart… I just never stopped to think of it as a place to
meet new women… ;-)

I have to give him credit for creativeness…

My nephew is at that somewhat awkward age – after high school and
before he has turned 21. He is also in a new place, where he does
not know his way around town, and in a town where he does not
know anyone but our family and our small circle of friends, all
of whom are at least ten years older and with children.

I do the online dating thing, but to my knowledge, he is not
exploring the prospects for online dating in our town… And even
if he did, although we are in a bigger town than the one he came
from, we are still living in a mid-sized town with limited dating
possibilities. I know this is true, because even though I find
people to date in the town I live in – through online dating
sites – I frequently date people from nearby small towns as well.

His mother – my sister – having been a single mother for most of
the last ten years seems to have taught my nephew the importance
of starting conversations to lead to that next date. His mother
has not had Internet access since she and my nephew’s dad were
divorced. So while I was exploring the big beautiful world of
online dating, she was still dating the old-fashioned way.

Ten years down the road, my sister has found a replacement for
her first husband and now she has a new baby at home, nineteen
years younger than her first child. I tease her that she finally
got her kid raised and out of the house, and now she has to do it
all over again…

At first I thought that until my nephew gets into a regular job,
a regular church, and a regular daily routine, I suspected that
it will be somewhat difficult for him in the dating world. But
then again, maybe not… He actually already has a list of phone
numbers he has acquired on his evening time adventures…

In this day and age, many people think of online dating as the
quickest and most economical way to find someone worth spending
their time… But as my nephew has reminded me… There was a
time before the Internet, and those dating techniques used before
the Internet age actually still work today…

So the next time you are out on the town and you meet someone who
strikes your fancy, walk up to them and say Hi. Show interest and
it could lead to a phone number. Finally, with a phone number in
hand, follow up. You never know where that phone call might take
you and your heart’s interest…

———————————————————————
Lance Metzger writes about relationships, offline and online
dating. Our no-strings-attached dating site has become a popular
online adult dating destination, due to its large membership
base of people looking for relationships of all kinds. Learn
more at: http://www.nsadatingsite.com/
Consider Lance’s new Kindle book, “Making Memories: Creative
Dating Ideas”: http://raintreepublishing.com/creative-dating-ideas/