Chicago, Saturday Evening, Oct 1- "Crazy Hat Party!"

Hello Ladies,

Guess what I've been doing...

...working like crazy to get through all the materials in time for Chicago. Speaking of "crazy" let's have a "Crazy Hat Party" on Saturday, October 1! I've hosted these many times in the past and they are a real hoot. Bring or make the craziest hat you can think of and wear it on Saturday evening. Prizes will be awarded to the most original.

Have to get back to work now. Joe has some comments below. Stay tuned!!! RR

Chicago “Meet the Senior Bachelor Event” info:

Odyssey Dinner Cruise, Friday, September 30:
Call 312-396-2227 and ask for Rob. Have your credit card ready. Be sure to tell him you are calling for the Senior Bachelor Cruise to get the special $80 TOTAL rate. (This is the only telephone number you can call to get the Senior Bachelor rate as we are set up as a special group- sorry it is not a toll-free number.)

Palmer House Hilton Hotel: The toll free number is 1-877-865-5321-- ask for the Senior Bachelor Rate.

Random thoughts from Joe: Deja Vu, Full Moons in September, Videos, Search for Soulmates, Integrity, Princess Grace and "Coeur"age

I hope you will grant me a few moments to tie in all these random thoughts about the past half year helping Richard and you with the Search and Journey. It all started yesterday when I saw him sitting in front of his television reviewing the videos you have all worked so hard to make. I know a little of what you have gone through and what he is going through now. I've shared with you previously on the Blog and Nancy recounted at the Manhattan Beach Event that I met her via a video dating service in the late 1980's. What led me to using the service was a three week trip, by myself, on my bicycle, in France at exactly this time of year in 1988. I was camping in a field on Corsica and I was awakened by the full moon on a crisp September night. I was thinking at the tender age of 35 that I wanted to find my soulmate and start a family, and, when I got back to Manhattan Beach, I better do something about it.

So I joined the video dating service. The internet wasn't really used for such things then so all of us "members" had to fill out a profile, insert a recent photo and make a video. I know how difficult the whole process was in taping the video and, even more so, writing the profile. But, just as many of you have mentioned in emails and on the blog, it really helped me focus on who I was, what was important to me and what I was looking for. The bio form was not on a computer and I remember writing it, tearing it up, writing it again, tearing it up so many times. And then the whole "search" process started. They had arranged all the women's biographies with photos attached in three ring binders in alphabetical order. Where to start? Being a linear kind of guy, I started at "A". When you found someone promising, you would find their video number on the profile, trot off to the video viewing room, find the tape, find a VCR, rewind the tape and watch their video. Then, if you were interested in the Lady, you marked her member number on a sheet and when she came into the office, she would receive a sheet with the member numbers of all the men who were interested in meeting her. Then she went through the whole process to find your bio and tape, etc. What a process! So, I feel for Richard as he is being very diligent in reading bios and viewing your videos. That's the "integrity" part. He set out to find his perfect traveling companion, asked you to make a video and write a bio and, even though he received many more than he anticipated, he is viewing them all very carefully.

Now back to my video dating experience and "deja vu all over again." I started with the "A"s and made it through the "D"s. Then I went to the "Z"s and moved backwards through the alphabet. Tried that for a few weeks and was becoming exasperated as I had not met the right woman (Nancy claims I scared them off because I included photos with my profile of my solo bike trip to Europe. Those spandex biking shorts are a privilege, not a right!) I had negotiated for a six month membership and time was running out. So on a whim on one of my last days, I went to the middle of the alphabet. The rest, as they say, is history. I'm the luckiest man in the world having found Nancy. What attracted me to Nancy was her great bio. You have seen how that gal can write. Now, ready for some deja vu big time. ("Twilight Zone" theme music fades in...) Here is part of what she wrote under the heading "Who I am:" "Equal parts Grace Kelley, June Cleaver and Jessica Rabbit."

So here I am 15 years later helping a good friend (and, hopefully you) find a soulmate. I'm paying forward. The overall lesson I have learned in my life, and what many of you have said about the Senior Bachelor endeavor, is nothing happens unless you break out and take the first steps. No one can take them for you. It takes so much "coeur"-age. Something inside you has to stir to get out and make things happen. It appears for so many of you wonderful Ladies that the Senior Bachelor has stirred things up inside of you. And you are taking those steps by making that video, by writing your bio, by going to Manhattan Beach and Chicago, by following along, by encouraging your new friends, by writing to Richard and sharing yourselves on the blog. And, whatever the outcome, we, your families, your friends and, in fact, the world are better for it. Thanks. Joe.