Precious Pearl

Pearl has met someone on the internet. This is not new but this time, the dude is skeptical and HE called ME to check and make sure she wasn't a nut case. So I am torn between giving this potential date/husband/friend for life the third degree or extolling all the virtues of my precious bff so he will give it a go. He was skeptical to the point of being interrogating and rude to me, trying to say what kind of personality I have and even to the point of saying he thinks I am controlling. WTF???
Really it should have been me putting HIM on the chopping block but other bff and I have a tendency to scare people with our fierce loyalty and interest in the lives of those who want a piece of Pearl. So, as always, my post conversation with potential mate for Pearl was way better than my actual one. Of course, I followed up with other bff so she could say everything I didn't since he wanted to call HER TOO!!
Now we are comiserating and thinking where are THIS guy's references. Mister I have been divorced for FOUR MONTHS and I am on the internet looking for chicks. Mister I am a church planter and in therapy. Does your accountability group know what you are doing? Hmmm...
My gut is never wrong about people. Men especially. And my gut tells me he is possibly not the best fit for Pearl.
The struggle I have is that I want her to be married so badly. I love being married. I love every minute of it. I love the comfort and security. I love talking to Pompey. I love watching him parent our children, cooking dinner together every night, the way he stands and does the verse during devotions and sword fights with the kids before bed. I love the way he outdoes himself to keep me happy even though I am totally happy most of the time. I love the way he dreams with me, even when it strikes panic in my heart that everything is about to change, but he feels safe and IS safe to process that out loud. I love his warmth in bed at night and how he always wakes up happy. I want all this for Pearl. I want her to know the safety of a strong and gentle man. I want her to have the joy of a snuggly baby, a precocious toddler, the imaginative ways of children. And the exceptional amazement of watching what you and your husband create out of love grow into a human being that makes a couple a family. I want all that and more for her.
So, I am giving Mister Skeptical the benefit of the doubt. I was a skeptic once, because I had been hurt by men from the beginning of known time in my life. Relationships are unsteady water and should be entered cautiously, I agree. But lighten up dude. Pearl is the sweetest most deserving person I know. She is not perfect but who is? I couldn't love her as much if she was. It is our shared weaknesses that make our bond of three bffs so strong. We hold each other up. That is who we are and always have been.
I am hoping the best for Pearl. In some ways I want to call Mister Internet and say run as far away as you can if you are not sure you want to meet her face to face. Spare my sister friend of another rejection, another man gone bad. Please. Have mercy on her. But then again, he might be the one. He might be just like me, scared to death of strangers and fiercely loyal to the ones he loves. That is the best and worst side of loyalty I think. I am taking his skepticism with a big chunk of salt in hopes that the other side of it lies a loyal, compassionate man with great intuition and heart of gold.
Because Pearls look best when set in gold.