{"id":777,"date":"2015-04-22T01:00:02","date_gmt":"2015-04-22T01:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.doorflower.com\/home\/?p=777"},"modified":"2015-04-20T17:17:55","modified_gmt":"2015-04-20T17:17:55","slug":"laura-chapmans-big-what-if","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.doorflower.com\/home\/laura-chapmans-big-what-if\/","title":{"rendered":"Doorflower Dating Do-Over: Laura Chapman’s Big “What If?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey Kids!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Building on the theme of romantic regrets, we’ve got special guest author, Laura Chapman here to tell us about her big “What if?”<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"laura<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not much of a dater. Like Elliot, the main character in The Marrying Type<\/em>, I had a serious boyfriend in college, but I\u2019ve spent most of my 20s single and focused on professional and personal development. Also, I just don\u2019t have a lot of game. So unfortunately (or thankfully depending on how you look at it) I don\u2019t have any horrible dating stories I wish I could change.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do, however, have an \u201cI wonder what would have happened if\u201d story.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A year after college graduation I moved to Houston. At 23, I wanted to try living somewhere other than Nebraska, and I could continue working for the same company. I had a cute apartment in a pretty, wooded suburb, which was my home office when I wasn\u2019t traveling across Texas to conduct interviews for the magazines I wrote. It seemed like a pretty sweet deal, until I realized how hard it was to meet someone (particularly eligible and interested bachelors) when you work from home, only interact with customers (and your boss had a non-dating policy), and you have zero game at the bars (if you need me, I\u2019ll be holding everyone\u2019s purses while they tear up the dance floor).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One of my friends took pity on me and decided to help me meet a man. By placing an ad on Craigslist, setting me up a new email address, and using a photo of my face and one of her boobs. I was more than a little embarrassed, but I was also intrigued by some of the responses I received. Let\u2019s call him X.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

X was a firefighter who lived in my area of town. He was a year older than me and like me also liked football and still enjoyed the bar scene. Email exchanges turned into texts, which led to a couple of phone calls. I don\u2019t remember everything we talked about, but he had a nice voice, and I felt comfortable talking to him.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The only real mark against him was that he was a University of Texas alumnus and fan – Nebraska was still in the Big 12 then, and it would have devastated my parents to bring a Longhorn home. And the fact that I\u2019d \u201cmet\u201d him on Craigslist, which was so NOT something I\u2019d do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"hannibalINSTAdf\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After a few weeks of conversing, we arranged to meet for lunch, which seemed relatively safe. But an hour before, I panicked. What if he turned out to be a serial killer? What if, despite him sending me a couple of photos in shirts with his station\u2019s name on it, he wasn\u2019t actually a firefighter? What if I didn\u2019t live up to his expectations of me? What if it went terribly wrong. So I canceled. I made up an excuse about having a last-minute interview come up and asked if we could reschedule. Though we exchanged a few more texts that date never happened. The last time I heard from him was right about the time I moved back to Nebraska.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m still not sure if I made the right choice. It was the safe one, but I still sometimes wonder what would have happened if I\u2019d met him for lunch that day. Maybe nothing, but at least I would know. And at least I\u2019d be able to say I\u2019d fulfilled a childhood dream of going out with a firefighter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"the<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Learn more about Laura’s newest book, The Marrying Type<\/a> by following the CLP blog tour schedule here<\/a>. And don’t forget to follow her on Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey Kids! \u00a0 Building on the theme of romantic regrets, we’ve got special guest author, Laura Chapman here to tell us about her big “What if?”   I\u2019m not much of a dater. Like Elliot, the main character in The Marrying Type, I had a serious boyfriend in college, but I\u2019ve spent most of my 20s single and focused on … <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,6],"tags":[75,32,10,47,122,119,123,49,17,120,121],"class_list":["post-777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doorflower-dating-do-over-series","category-okay-im-a-girl-you-got-me","tag-chicklit","tag-clp-blog-tours","tag-coulda-woulda-shoulda","tag-dating-do-over","tag-firefighter","tag-laura-chapman","tag-nebraska","tag-romantic-regrets","tag-tara-lee-reed","tag-the-marrying-type","tag-what-if","no-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"\nLaura Chapman's Big Romantic What If<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In theme with Coulda Woulda Shoulda, Laura Chapman talks dating do-overs with her big "What if?"\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.doorflower.com\/home\/laura-chapmans-big-what-if\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Laura Chapman's Big Romantic What If\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In theme with Coulda Woulda Shoulda, Laura Chapman talks dating do-overs with her big "What if?"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.doorflower.com\/home\/laura-chapmans-big-what-if\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doorflower\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CouldaWouldaShouldaBook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-22T01:00:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.doorflower.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/laura-chapman.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Doorflower\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@DoorflowerCo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@DoorflowerCo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Doorflower\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.doorflower.com\\\/home\\\/laura-chapmans-big-what-if\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.doorflower.com\\\/home\\\/laura-chapmans-big-what-if\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Doorflower\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.doorflower.com\\\/home\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ace9d48a1fcdfdcf080cde9febd69009\"},\"headline\":\"Doorflower Dating Do-Over: Laura Chapman’s Big “What If?\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-22T01:00:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.doorflower.com\\\/home\\\/laura-chapmans-big-what-if\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":654,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.doorflower.com\\\/home\\\/laura-chapmans-big-what-if\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.doorflower.com\\\/home\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/04\\\/laura-chapman.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"chicklit\",\"clp blog tours\",\"Coulda Woulda Shoulda\",\"dating do over\",\"firefighter\",\"Laura Chapman\",\"nebraska\",\"romantic regrets\",\"tara lee reed\",\"The Marrying Type\",\"what if\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Doorflower Dating Do-Over Series\",\"Okay, I'm a girl. 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