Charlie: A Story of Hope

When I was visiting Nick last month I met his longtime best friend, Charlie. Charlie is one of those guys who is gorgeous, fit, smarter than I could ever dream of, and witty. In other words, way out of my league. Charlie is one of those guys I would picture with a drop dead gorgeous blonde who's at Harvard getting her doctorate in political science. They would be one of "those" couples, ones that you are so jealous of that you want to hate them with a passion, but you just can't because they're genuinely good people.

That's Charlie.

And of course Charlie, being as nice as he is, exchanges e-mail addresses with me when I'm up there and we e-mail each other once or twice a week on random topics. It's very casual, very friendly. Don't worry, I'm not deluded into thinking anything naughty regarding him.

Not long after I got back from there, Charlie sends me an e-mail and was discussing his weekend. He said he went to see "The Nutcracker" on a Friday and he had such a good time that he thought he would go again Saturday night and maybe this time try a meet a girl. Good thinking on his part, I can imagine a lot of girls going to see that without a guy. I do.

So the next day, Charlie gets dressed up and heads back over to the ballet. He didn't know that the times are different on the weekend and he had already missed the first half of the show. He doesn't want to wait around for the next show so he leaves, picks up some take-out, and goes home. "I'm home alone on a Saturday night, eating take-out, and watching basketball," he complains. "How pathetic am I?"

I responded with only one sentence, "I was right there with you until you mentioned the basketball game."

Recently, Charlie asks my advice about asking this girl out he liked. He took it and she accepted the date (of course my advice would work!) When he called and asked her out for a second date, she turned him down.

If a guy like Charlie has trouble meeting people and finding people to date, then there is hope for the rest of us. He is the Superman of guys and he's single and struggling too. If there are guys out there like that, then I'm going to be okay. I know there are still a few single nice guys left in the world.