Dating. It hates me and I hate it. Nothing grounds a person like rejection and dating is pretty much a game of rejection until it is not. I have rejected and I have been rejected. I haven't been in the game that long, but from what I gather it is a progression from the initial meeting, to the number exchange, to flirty text messages, to getting to know each other until it all stops. Then repeat.
After many bottles of wine with girlfriends, I have concluded that even the initial meeting isn't straight forward anymore. Not many people believe that you will meet that special someone while drinking at a bar, maybe before it gets late, but there is a fine line. Social Groups are set up to bring single people together, then there is speed dating, online dating... many tools are available to help with that initial meeting. Just accepting that piece of it is hard. Really? You can tell whether or not you want to date me by what I put on my Internet profile? Rejection better not phase you during this process. Before I was nervous about relationships, now I am just trying to get to that initial meeting. And then I hope somewhere between the flirty text messages until the stop that I don't do something stupid.
What does that something stupid look like? Is it drinking too much on the first date? Is it saying out loud that my family is complicated? That my last breakup can make most relationships look like child's play? What if I wear the wrong thing? What if I say the wrong thing? Or worse, what if I text the wrong thing? "Well then he isn't the person you are supposed to be with." Fantastic.
Repeat.
I know I am not alone, not only do I have my dating adventures, but I get to witness and comment on my friends' adventures as well. (Hopefully over a beer on Sunday Funday) I get to be there when they meet the right person and get married. I am also there when it doesn't work out, to remind them if it feels so good with the wrong person, imagine what it feels like with the right person. For those opportunities I am thankful, so I will update my online profile, attend more speed dating functions, find myself on the dance floor at a local bar... and date. My relationship with dating is a love/hate thing but it is not one I want to walk away from.
