[Just another Joe]

You’re lucky to have had such a casual setting to meet your wife. We should all be able to meet that way, but a meal is usually the way on a date.

My wife wasn't the first woman I ever went on a date with.

I NEVER took a FIRST date to a meal in a restaurant.
Second date and on, perhaps.
First date, NEVER.

I understand that a "meal" is normal as a first date but I decided long ago that I would never take a first date to a restaurant for a meal. I AM cheap and wouldn't want to spend the money to try to impress a woman that I didn't know if I wanted to take the time to get to know.

If money was an issue on the first date, the woman probably wouldn't have wanted anything to do with me anyway.

[ReneeLynn]

Well, there are some women who do not want a cheap man. I don’t consider it a virtue anymore than I consider people who drive hybrid cars as virtuous. There’s nothing wrong with a woman looking for a successful spouse. Most men have levels of acceptability on a woman’s appearance, I don’t fault this woman or call her a golddigger or whore if she has an level of acceptability on a man’s spending habits. It’s her preference. So what?