Cracker Jack Prize

Do you remember when we were little and Cracker Jacks actually had a prize?  You would not only get that great carmel popcorn but the best part was the surprise prize you would find towards the end of the box.  I used to always hope for a small toy or ring.....years past and now when you get a box of Cracker Jacks, you get a sticker or rub on tattoo.  Such a dispointment if you have memories of the past .
  Dating is like the old box of  Cracker Jacks, you never know what you are going to get until you meet the person and sometimes its a real prize and most times it is just a not so fun sticker. 
  I met Stan on one of the free sites.  His pictures showed a smiling man in his mid 50's that had a kind face.  We started chatting online and then it progressed to phone calls.  I started looking forward to his calls, though to be honest he lived an hour  away, so other than calls I did not have the hope that we would meet.  It was a bittersweet friendship.
  On one of our calls, he offered to  drive the hour to take me to lunch.  I was excited but felt a little bit guilty because if there was no chemistry, he would have had made a long trip.  I gladly acceppted and we made plans to meet in the late afternoon at the resturant of my choice. 
  I chose a resturant that was nice but casual, not too far from my home, one where I knew the menu and hoped he would find something that he liked. 
  On that Saturday, I spent the morning pampering myself, making sure my hair looked good, make up was perfect and I had on a cute outfit.  It was really the first warm day we had here, so my outfit not only had to be cute, but cool.
  After I was ready, I sat and waited for the date time, growing more nervous by the minute,  About an hour before our date time he called and said he was here, the drive did not take as long as he thought.  He wondered if I was ready and would like to start va little earlier.  My answer was of course, to be honest I could barely control my excitement.
  I drove to the resturant, and there outside was the smiling face I had seen in pictures.
He smelled great, and after the intial hellos, felt like we were off to a good start.
We talked over lunch, and I realized  we had been at the table for 2 hours, chatting about anything and everything.  The waiter came by to check on us, most likely wanting his table back, and asked if were going to Second Saturday Art walk. Stan, did not know what Second Saturday was and once I explained it was like an evening downtown were galleries opened up and sometimes there was live music, he asked if I would like to go.  I had enjoyed our meal so much and was not ready to end it so I accepted the invite gladly. 
  We walked through downtown chatting and looking at artwork and just enjoying the sites and sounds.  When we had done the route and finished up, he said he was not ready to end our date, so we decided to sit at an outside lounge and have a drink and people watch.  I never drink, so the drink I had lasted  over an hour and our conversation was nonstop.  We laughed, shared more stories of our past and this date was really the first one I felt great about.  Again, our long stay at the lounge was interrupted by a server who clearly wanted us to drink more or leave the table so he could have a table that was spending more money.  Stan stated again he was having such a nice time, would I mind doing something else.  We decided to go play pool.
  We played pool for several hours and finally I told him I hated to break up the evening but he had a long drive home.  Stan agreed but also said he wanted to see me again.

I told him my theory about relating dating to the prize in the box of cracker jacks.  As we said our goodbyes......he asked one last thing.....am I a good prize or am I a sticker?  As I giggled, I told him he was definitely not a sticker, but a prize.  Finally after going through all the stickers, I had found a prize.