Dating my Daughter

The President and The First Lady - still in love!

So here’s the thing. I want one just like him for my daughter. No, not because Barack Obama is the leader of the most influential nation in the world! Because he is a man who after almost two decades of marriage still looks at his wife with eyes that say ‘You are my world and I love you’ Hell if a man looked at ME like that I’d have him kneecapped and hogtied to a bed in a heartbeat! So how did Michelle Obama bag and tag her man? In a recent interview, the First Lady gave dating tips and advice for single ladies. In it she warned that ‘cute’ isn’t enough when choosing a partner.
‘Cute’s good,’ she said. ‘But cute only lasts for so long and then it’s “Who are you as a person?”
Therefore it’s far more important to check out the ‘heart’ or character of the man and the way he relates to others. In the interview, in U.S. publication Glamour, Michelle Obama wisely advised women not to be swayed by the size of the bank balance or status he has but to look at the relationship a man has with his mother, something all the savvy mamas with sons can relate to I’m sure.
‘Look at how the guy treats his mother and what he says about women. How he acts with children he doesn’t know. And more important, how does he treat you?’ Common sense maybe but she certainly found the man who is perfect for her so her instincts were spot on. Wise words from a remarkable woman.

Dating is a serious business that requires thought, preparation and action to avoid wasting time and energy. My daughter has neither, I have both. So now it’s time to put some strategies in place. Time to recognise opportunities and grasp them firmly with both hands. And if opportunities don’t seem immediately apparent – create them!
My first strategy is: Start With Who You Know
This means dusting off those old address books, and I mean the hard copy, pre-mobile kind, for those friends and family members you’ve lost touch with. In 1986, the year my daughter was born, married me lived in Couples Kingdom. You know, a circle of married couples who socialised …….and competed. The house; the car; the holidays; the kids who could recite the alphabet at the age of 18 months! Four of us had children that year and my daughter, the only girl, was the last of them. Three potential leads! You might think it would be weird calling out of the blue after many years but it’s the easiest thing in the world to open with “I came across your number in my old address book and just wanted to find out how you’re doing” It’s human nature to want to talk about ourselves and we appreciate those who take to listen. Is it always possible to rekindle a friendship? Take the quiz to find out.

Unfortunately the leads sank like lead balloons:- One abroad, one engaged, one wayward. Worth a shot though and the mothers seemed genuinely pleased to hear from me. One of them is having a birthday party in three weeks so I got in touch just in time to get me an invite! It’s the BIG FIVE-OH so there’ll be plenty of people to network with. Therein lies the key. I am going to have to network, network and NETWORK!! Pretty good timing with the Christmas season coming up. However, I’m so used to telly, bath, bed on a Saturday night that this has also got me worried. I’m going to need to be ‘on point’ with my hair, nails and clothes and I HAVEN’T A THING TO WEAR.