We drove in the car after he had treated me to lunch. We began to speak of travels. "Well, you're an attractive lady" he said,"I'm sure lots of gentlemen have taken you on nice trips." I froze. I literally didn't know what to say, I had no comprehension or understanding of a statement like that whilst in the middle of speaking about worldly exploration, a thing I am so passionate about. I should have let my serpent tongue come out and spilt him in two. I said nothing at first because I was in shock. It was as if I was speaking of the magic of the universe and why I love to discover it, and in a swift statement he had called me a high class hooker somewhere in the middle. I gathered my thoughts. "There are many ways to travel with out spending a lot of money" I tell him. "I went to Jordan for two grand including a plane ticket. I was traveling with a friend, and we split everything." "You're defending yourself" he says, "which makes it even more suspicious." I am caught between a hard place and an even harder place. If I say nothing, he feels justified, and if I defend myself, he also feels justified. This is useless. I'm not sure that he or it is worth my time at this point. I think of all the travels I've been on. When I was younger, much of it was blessed by my parents, and still sometimes to this day. Then, as I got older, it was backpacking through Europe with a girlfriend from grad school, sleeping on trains, slumming it at every corner. Trips with boyfriends were often split in some way where I bought the tickets and he bought the hotel rooms. And then, my solo ventures that I can't seem to hold back. I think I was being accused of being a gold digger at that point, yes, and actual cliched gold digger, and I think primarily based on my appearance, my dates, and his lack of understanding on how I support myself and my life. It's simple. I live simply, I can stretch a dollar for a mile, and I put my money in experiences rather than material items. I have dated some very interesting and successful souls, I have also turned away much more successful and less interesting souls. I have dated people that didn't have a pot to piss in, I have dated people some where in the middle. It doesn't matter. This specific man didn't seem to have a gage on me, or a desire to get a real gage. Truthfully I had known him for years, but knew little of him and his back round. But, it wasn't until a few months earlier when I saw him get up in early hours on a Saturday morning to help weed a community garden that I thought he might be worth even a moment of my time. So, I guess I do love jewels. Pearls of wisdom, diamonds of truth, and hearts of gold. Then indeed, I may be a gold digger after all. A big, tenacious, relentless, unwavering seeker of the biggest hearts of gold I can find. And, I have found them often both in friends and in romance. So I just keep digging.
