The Life Changer

When I started working for a nursing agency, I never thought it would change my life forever, but it did.  It had nothing to do with nursing and everything to do with men.
  I loved to talk to the residents , especially the foreign ones.  I liked to find out where they were from and what life was like in their country.  I don't even remember giving my cell phone number to Ahmed, but one evening when I was in the kitchen doing the dinner dishes, my cell phone rang.  I answered the phone and went to sit on my side porch, which was right off the kitchen. 
It was Ahmed.  "Hey, Jasmine, how would you like to meet my cousin, Mike, who is visiting from, Aleppo? " Ahmed asked.  I was trying to remember exactly what country Ahmed was from & him telling me that his cousin was from Aleppo unfortunately wasn't helping.
"Uh, Ahmed, where is Aleppo, located, exactly?" I sheepishly asked.
"Oh, it's about kilometers from Damascus.  So, when do you want to meet Mike?" Ahmed persisted.
"Oh, by the way, he's looking for a wife, so make sure you dress really nice when you meet him," he added much to casually.
"He's what?" I yelled alittle too loudly causing Porter, the black lab next door to start barking like he saw a rabbit.
Ahmed laughed.  "I know you haven't been divorced that long, but, you should meet him anyway.  He's really a nice guy and I think you should meet him.  No one says you have to marry him, but it can't hurt to meet him.  I told you before, I'd marry you myself if I wasn't all ready married to Rema.  Come on, Jaz, at least least meet Mike."
"Well, I don't know.  I will have to think about it.  By the way, is Mike really his name or is that another surprise you weren't going to tell me?" I asked as I walked around the porch wondering where this was going.
"No, actually his name is alot longer and kind of hard to pronounce in English, so he just goes by Mike.  So, is it a date?  Can you meet us on Sunday afternoon?"  Ahmed asked, seemingly nonplussed by his omissions.
  "Well, let me check my calendar, and get back to you," I replied, noncommittally.  I just wasn't sure that I wanted to meet a man from a country I knew little about.
"So, I'll call you back in 5 minutes, OK? So, you can let me know what time to tell Mike you can meet him, yes?" Ahmed, pressed.
"OK, call me back," I hedged, "But I'm not making any promises," I warned.
"You'll love him, "Ahmed chortled.  "He has blond hair and black eyes." 
"Black eyes?"  I choked, on my iced tea.
"Brown, black, all the same." Ahmed wheedled.  I was slightly suspicious, but with promises to called him back, I hung up my cell phone and opened the side door to my 3 bedroom ranch style house.
Let's see, what did I know about Mike?  Well, not much, really.  He was from some city near Damascus, which I think was in Syria, where they make those fancy table clothes out of Damask, right?  He supposedly had blond hair and maybe dark brown eyes and wanted to get MARRIED!!!  Oh, no!!!  What was I thinking??? I should have said no, right way!!!   I had only been divorced for a little over 10 months and had 2 young children.  I really didn't want to get married again!  I didn't even know how old this guy whose name wasn't even really Mike was and what he did for a living and if he'd been married before or a million other things. 
  Besides the fact, I didn't even know if I could meet him on Sunday, anyway!  So, before I even thought anymore about this man I knew nothing about, that I may not even have to meet, I went searching for my datebook, which was suppose suppose to be in my purse, if I could locate it, in my slightly cluttered house.
  Working  full time and trying to raise a 3 year old and a  9 year old on my own was no picnic, especially when their father lived over 45 minutes away and only saw his kids 4 hours a week on Sundays at Mc Donalds. So, sometimes, my house was a little on the cluttered side.
  I managed to locate my purse, under my discarded, warm up jacket and pulled out my datebook.  The kids were suppose to see their dad from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm, if he showed up, then we were suppose to go to this "modeling" tryout at some place downtown from 2 to 4 pm.  I guess i could meet him  in the morning for coffee after I dropped the kids off, cause, even though my kids are well behaved, I really didn't want to meet a guy with my 2 kids along, or maybe I should!  That would drive all thoughts of marriage right out the door!  And probably Mike as well! 
  With a heavy sigh, I plopped on the pull out couch that my ex-husband slept on until he moved out 4 years ago and waited for Ahmed to call me back on my cell phone. 
If only I'd known what I was getting myself into!!!!