Dear Shmitten Kitten: The Other Side of the Story

So, last week we ran a letter from a boy who got the boot from his ladyfriend. The twist was that she delivered the blow using a Shmitten Kitten-style drawing. This pretty much blew our minds over here at Shmit Kit headquarters because while we love our readers, we don't wanna be the medium to deliver any more broken hearts than we have to--we usually break enough hearts on our own, thank you very much (cough, that was sarcastic, cough).

Well, imagine our surprise when this letter popped up in our inbox. This is the lady who swung the ax! And this is her side of the story. It's a little bit long and I've edited a few details out but it's basically the whole shebang. Pull up a chair, pour yourself a Diet Coke and read on:

Dear Shmitten Kitten,

I've been a loyal reader since the beginning of your blog and have always found myself laughing along and relating with your disastrous dating stories. Imagine my surprise--and delight!--when the letter from Bummed & Drawn appeared in my RSS reader this afternoon. Ladies, I am the South Philly girl in question! And while B&D gave a very accurate account of our tale, I'd like to expound on it and, of course, include the drawing in question.

You see, I met B&D on an internet dating site. I came across B&D's profile, thought he seemed cute and interesting (both true) and so I sent him a little message. We began corresponding and scheduled a date for the near-ish future. Unfortunately, at the Exact Same Moment this guy who I like to refer to as Septa Boy swaggered into the picture. Septa Boy was someone I used to see on the subway on my way to work and make eyes at, but he never responded. And I liked him. Oh, did I like him.

But, I liked B&D too and since we were just "casually dating" I figured there wasn't any harm in seeing the two of them concurrently. However, when I started to feel more strongly for SB I knew I had to do the right thing and let B&D know what was up. [Ed. note from Anna: Are you guys out there following all this? Right now, she likes two guys. Okay, continue.]

I invited him over to my house with the intention of letting him down gently. But, I'm an awkward girl and we were having a good time and I couldn't bring myself to do it. We had a little Show & Tell and one of the things I showed him was the sketch of myself I'd done in early Spring and planned on sending in to you lovely ladies. Consciously, I wasn't trying to send him a message, but who knows what was going on in my subconscious.

The next day I emailed him, explained my situation, and that I felt more strongly about this other dude (who, by the way, has neither a bicycle NOR a beard) and wanted to give it a shot. B&D responded later that day thanking me for my honesty and telling me that I should "give (him) a call if (my) new love didn't work out."

I was ecstatic! Not only had I done the right thing and let him know instead of just, you know, avoiding him, but he'd also offered himself up as a Plan B if things with SB didn't work out. Sweet! And, of course, things with SB didn't work out. So two weeks later, I sent B&D another email asking if he still wanted to make me dinner as he'd offered previously. He sent me a lighthearted response and invited me over that weekend, a mere five days before you posted his letter.

We had dinner, some laughs, some hot makeouts and talked about my shit luck with Bachelor Number One. He again thanked me for my honesty in our previous situation. Our date ended well, albeit a little awkwardly and when I left the next morning he hugged me and told me to give him a call.

Well, I didn't give him a call. Something about our goodbye gave me the impression that maybe HE wasn't that interested anymore. Maybe my brush off two weeks earlier lessened his interest, maybe he had started seeing someone else, and maybe, just maybe he knew you were going to post his letter and wanted to wait and see what would happen.

Anyway, back to today. I was sitting at work and read the post. I immediately called my BFF to tell him the good news: I'd made it onto Shmitten Kitten! I knew that I had to formulate a response, send you the drawing, and give you guys a hand in advertising B&D to all the single ladies in Philly.

It's true that he's a sweetheart and a total gentleman. He's tall and handsome, friendly and easy to talk to, and--though I haven't seen it--I hear he's got a pretty sweet Vespa. He'll bring you wine while you sew, take you out to dinner, buy you drinks at your favorite bar, bounce along with you at '80s night, and bake you some tasty treats. I give my seal of approval.

But, ladies of Philadelphia, I caution you: don't be surprised if when you aren't feeling it and you tell him so he goes and emails Shmitten Kitten about you. Although, maybe even that isn't such a bad thing. I've been giggling and gushing about it all weekend long!

Lots of love {and best of luck to B&D),
Happy and Drawing

Wow! So there you go. Her side of the story turned into, like, a Friendster comment about how rad he is. We kid, we kid. That's a ringing endorsement for B&D, if we've ever read one.

Go get 'em, Tiger. Thanks again for sending this in. If you have any boy/lady troubles that you think we can drop some knowledge on, pen a missive to us at hi@shmittenkitten.com. The line forms to the left.