Dating via texting?

I went to the airport on my day off yesterday to go open an account at the credit union for airline employees and to talk about the possibility of consolidating my loans. (Hey, does someone want to loan me enough money to pay off both my student loans and also buy a new [to me] car? I'd really enjoy only having one payment a month. Thanks in advance.)

As long as I was at the airport, I stopped at the crew store to buy a bigger lunchbox and a cardigan, so that I don't have to be wearing my blazer all the time. As attractive as it is, the cardigan just seems cozier for winter. So I'm wandering around the store, and a ramp agent in there starts making small talk with me. I small talk back, but I don't think much of it.

I leave the store, happy with my purchases and angry at how expensive that stupid cardigan was, and he catches up with me in the hallway. I go through a door into a stairwell, and he stops me with an "Uh.. hey..." I think he's going to tell me I can't use that stairwell (I'm still not totally familiar with the bowels of the airport), but instead he says, "I'm not very good at this. Would you like to hang out some time?"

I go back down the few stairs I made it up before he stopped me, and introduce myself. RampMan and I exchange phone numbers, and plan for dinner on Monday, which we both have off.

I left the airport smiling and feeling pretty good about myself. I mean, I must look adorable, right? And it would be all fine and dandy, except for... the texting.

See, before I even got onto the lightrail to head back to my car, he texted me. That's fine, make sure the number is right, send a test text, okay, sure. But the texting? It has pretty much not stopped. I met and talked to this guy for maybe ten minutes, and he's texting me casually? I'm sorry, I'm just not comfortable with that.

I think texting breaks boundaries that maybe it shouldn't. I mean, I don't know, maybe we should get to know each other in person a bit first before texting back and forth all the time. Just a thought. Especially since we already have a date actually planned.

Or is that just me? Is it weird and too personal? Or is that just the way things are now?

The date is still a few days away, and I'm already trying to think of ways to let poor nervous RampMan down easy.


On the other hand, texting can be quite fun, and distracting, and perhaps a little dangerous. And sometimes maybe I like it to break certain boundaries. Maybe it just depends on the person doing the texting.