As we sat on the couch, laughing and dissecting the date, my mother turned to me and said, "Well, that was a disaster."
A bad date can be more than just a funny story to tell your friends. For many mothers, it can trigger feelings of guilt ("I should have stayed home with the kids") or exhaustion ("Is it even worth the effort?"). It’s important to remember that these feelings are valid, but they shouldn't be the end of the story. Turning Lemons into... Better Dates So, how do you handle a truly disastrous outing?
I couldn't help but agree. But despite the disastrous date, my mother was already laughing about it, and I knew she'd be back out there again soon, ready for her next adventure.
She kissed me goodbye. “If I’m not back by ten, send a search party.” mother's bad date
: Protect your children from the revolving door of dating. They don't need to know about every "dud" you encounter.
We both burst out laughing. And in that moment, I realized: a bad date isn’t a failure. It’s just material. My mother put the wilted carnation in a juice glass on the windowsill, where it looked, somehow, not sad but defiant.
My mother, a vibrant and lively woman in her early sixties, has been on her fair share of dates since my father and she divorced. Some were good, some were bad, but one that still makes me chuckle to this day was her date with a man named Bob. As we sat on the couch, laughing and
“That bad?” I asked.
Dating as a mother isn’t quite the same as dating in your early twenties. The stakes are higher, the time is scarcer, and the "baggage"—while often joyful (hello, kids!)—is a significant factor. When a mom goes on a bad date, it’s not just a wasted evening; it’s a wasted babysitter fee, a missed bedtime story, and a logistical feat that went unrewarded. The Hall of Fame: Classic Bad Date Archetypes
Alex's mom, Laura, has been on a string of unsuccessful dates lately, and Alex is starting to worry that she'll never find love again. When Laura gets asked out by a seemingly charming man named Richard, Alex is skeptical but tries to be supportive. However, things quickly take a turn for the worse when Alex and her friends tag along to dinner and discover that Richard is not what he seems. Turning Lemons into
“He asked the waitress for a ‘protein-forward’ salad. Then he sent it back because the avocado was ‘too ripe.’ He said ripe avocados are the gaslighters of the produce world.”
She sat down at the kitchen table, cradling the ice cream like a newborn. “He spent the first twenty minutes explaining why he doesn’t ‘believe’ in mood lighting. Said it’s deceptive. Like a menu with no prices.”