I met this lovely young man 6 weeks ago. We struck up a conversation. The conversation turned into daily text messages. And finally to us meeting so he could come take a look, under the hood of my car. (He’s a mechanic, bonus.) 

 Last night, I told my mother about him and the fact he was coming over to visit tonight. She hung her head and shook it. I didn’t understand what was wrong. I mean, I know I don’t know his social security number or have three references, but he seems like a sane and decent guy.
So I tucked my daughter in and decided the opportunity to talk to my mom was there. So I asked her what was up. She told me that it really concerned her that he was Muslim. I had already grilled the poor fella because I agreed with my mother’s assessment earlier that I needed to know more about him. I found his responses satisfactory. So I didn’t understand why his being Muslim was such a problem.

So she brought the Bible into the conversation, telling me that we would be unequally yoked. And I said that I wasn’t sure how I felt about that or even if I felt like we were. Not that I am arguing the point of the Bible, but the last long term relationships I’ve had have been with Christians of a different stripe than my own, but they were disastrous at best. I feel that his faith may be different, but his beliefs were much the same as my own.

Then when I was so resolute about my decision to still see him and have him visit, she talked to me about having him meet O. I explained to her that he wasn’t coming over for us to have a make out session. He was coming over to do what we’d have been doing outside the house for the last couple of months, chatting. Yes, chatting folks. There’s been no kissing. Just hugs and a lot of conversation. I appreciate it. He seems to have a real interest in getting to know me.

But of course my mom warned me about bringing men in and out of my daughter’s life. Then I had to explain my parenting philosophy and dating strategy. I would not bring a lot of men around my daughter. Which, I thought she’d have known since I’ve had plenty of dates with plenty of men in the last 4 years and only one has met my daughter. That was only because we were in the area and I need to drop something off to him. More a happenstance than a planned meeting. 

I was allowing this man to meet my daughter because we have become friends. Despite the fact we are exploring the possibility of a relationship, our visits are strictly friendly. He’s aware of this.

So despite my mother’s reservations, I’ve decided to press forward, carefully. We’ll see where this leads.