The Hershey's Date!

So, allow me to take a minute to reflect upon where I've been, as to where I am.Prior to this October, I hadn't officially "dated" in over 2 years, and I haven't been in a long term relationship in literally a decade.Why?  Am I weird?  Crazy?  Have daddy issues and a penchant for the pole and meth?No.  I was in the military.  What I found was that it was really hard to maintain a relationship while worried  about deploying to some third world country where you might not come home with your balls in tact.  In addition to that, I didn't adopt anything close to a true relationship mindset.

***  I apologize to any and all women that I dated prior to 2005, and probably you few I dated up to 2007 or so.  I was a douchebag.  I wasn't out to do anything evil, or to hurt feelings, but I wasn't in the proper headspace for a long term relationship, and I probably should've been locked off in some cave incorporating the random hooker into my daily existence. ***

and then after my Afghanistan deployment, I was hell-bent to finish school and find a job.  Once I found said job, it took me 3,000+ miles from everything I was familiar with into a new world.  From there, I kept a strong anchor to my known world by spending 3 months of the year in Chicago.  It was a lot of craziness.Now, for the first time in a long time, I feel normal.  I feel like a relationship is totally doable, and so here I am...and that's what brought me to the Hershey Date.Lauren is a woman I talked to a few times on match.com  it seemed on and off.  We'd exchange emails for a few days, and then I wouldn't hear from her for a few days, wash, and repeat.But she seemed interesting.  Works in the medical field.  Seemed very intelligent, and so I was excited when we finally nailed down a time to meet.  I suggested the Hershey Company in downtown Chicago.  With the recent snow we got, what could be better than some hot cocoa and a sweet treat, right?So, after some juggling over the time, we set a time that worked for both of us, and before I knew it, I was strolling into the Hershey store.  She was already there, and I smoothly slided up next to her and asked "Is this seat taken?"First impression:  I was pleasantly surprised at how cute she was.  Even cuter than her Match profile pictures, of which there were only 2.  She is well-traveled, and has a very engaging personality.  We easily conversed, and established what I thought was a very easy and pleasant rapport.One thing I will say about dating in general is that it has been nice to be in pleasant company with people outside of the norm, and getting to know them, I am such a people person.So we grabbed cocoa, and I asked her if she was interested in sharing a dessert with me, which we worked together to choose.  I chose the 3 finalist, and she chose the winner, which was a smore brownie!So, we sat and chatted till about 10 minutes before closing time, at which point I walked her to the bus stop.  We then stood there and chatted.  While I wasn't sure at all if there was any attraction from her end, I did end up feeling pleasantly about the date.  We parted with a hug.We spoke a day later, and she said that she would definitely like to get together again, so we have a date planned for this upcoming Saturday.  We're going to a conservatory to look at plants...that is what you do at conservatories right???