Love At Lakeside—Part 2

By Sandy Olson

This One’s for the Ladies

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Our single woman up north is independent-thinking; she’s just sold her house, and is tired of babysitting her grandchildren. She’s ready for something new. Someone told her that if she wanted adventure and maybe a romance she’d be better off going to Alaska, where there are lots of available men. But she remembers a visit she made to Anchorage some years ago and saw a T shirt that read “Alaska Men—The Odds are Good but the Goods Are Odd.” She figures she’ll look elsewhere.

Then she hears about Ajijic and the great climate and the large expat population. She checks it out on a visit and eventually she arrives here with the few possessions she wants to keep, gets a place to stay and starts to make new friends. She notices there are a lot of single women here. Lots of single women. She’s okay with this—some of her best friends are women.

But that romantic heart beats under her new Mexican blouse. She starts to feel a bit lonely after a while. She’d like someone to love. Some women at this point would adopt a dog, but our lady can’t tolerate all that fidelity and unconditional love. She’d rather have a man.

She joins a few groups and meets still more new women friends. To meet a man she makes a foray into Ajijic night life, and goes dancing at La Bodega and Joselita’s. The women who seem to get the most attention on the dance floor are likely to wear Spandex and high heels and lots of bling. But our lady is not cut from this cloth. She remembers the day she threw out her girdle and never looked back.

And she’s not aggressive by nature, unlike some of the women here at Lakeside. Mark from Albuquerque used to hang out at the Black Coffee on the plaza and says he felt very “marketable” here in Ajijic, unlike his experience in the States. Women do back off when he mentions his girlfriend, but not always.

Dave, another expat, feels uncomfortable when a woman he dated a few times shows up here and there with a proprietary air, even when he’s with someone else.

Our lady did attract some attention, though. One night a waiter at Joselita’s stopped her. “I’ve been hoping to see you. I think you’re very beautiful.” She liked this. She hired him to take care of her garden. She loaned him her car. One thing led to another.

This might have gone along indefinitely if he hadn’t been married, as most Mexican men are. He did care for her, their age difference didn’t matter, but he was perplexed and annoyed at her jealous outbursts. “You don’t know how to be La Segunda,” he explained to her, exasperated.

She reminded herself when in a sour mood that she was really La Tercera, after the wife and his mother. But she loved his charm and attentiveness when he was with her and, looking back, considers the whole affair to be part of her Grand Adventure. Her bank account has almost recovered.

Our lady, now free, looks over the expat crowd. She hopes that Prince Charming might be around the corner, but by now she knows it’s likely he’s a little tired and may have fallen off his horse a few too many times.

After a while she does get asked out. They go to Roberto’s for a candlelight dinner. The waiter takes their order as her date requests separate checks.

Then he starts talking… and talking… and talking. He tells her all about himself, even shares his current PSA numbers. Eventually he takes a breath and she excuses herself to go to the bathroom. As she comes out, she sees him from across the room popping one of those little blue pills.

“Not so fast,” she says to herself. When she gets back to the table she makes an excuse, pays for her dinner and leaves. As she escapes down the steps she thinks she could have mentioned to him a line she’d heard in a Netflix movie: “Nobody ever got laid by going Dutch.” Maybe he’d have more success with the next lucky lady.

She doesn’t know if her date had to seek medical attention later that night. She sees him in the village from time to time but he doesn’t speak to her.

By now our lady is feeling a little discouraged. She wants to turn her attention away from romance for a while. She thinks kayaking might be fun so she signs up for lessons

When she’s out on the lake, looking at the mountains and shores, she enjoys the peace and quiet. She’s reflecting on how contented she and her single friends are, for the most part, and how she enjoys going home later, fixing a simple meal, and enjoying her solitude.

A romance might happen for her one of these days, but in the meantime, she’s shopping for a kayak.

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