(The following is a re-post from the blog My Life As A Serial Dater.)
When I was young, I could paint a future with any man I dated. No matter how mundane the time we spent. No matter how little true feeling I had for the person, I could always imagine a future with him. We'll call it desperation or maybe wishful thinking. Naw ... desperation is most likely it. I will save you the details, but I had some separation anxiety and some difficulty being alone in my teens and early 20's. The end result of that was a string of unsuccessful relationships that were based on little, or no, real connection or emotion.
Fast forward to now. Fast forward to tonight, actually. I sit here typing after having another good date. There was a connection. There was feeling. And, there was a complete inability to imagine how I could ever really have a relationship with this guy. Sometimes I try to imagine it just for the hell of it. These days, I have little luck imagining a successful relationship with anyone.
I have honed in on what I want in men. Not this list of qualities that I expect to find all in one man, but an idea of things that will and won't work. I know when to call it quits and stop responding to texts. I know when something is just not worth the time. I also know when it will be something worth while. Yet, I can't ever see a future with any of the men I date. I feel love for some of them, deep admiration for others. I find qualities that are great and there are probably 4 guys that I am currently seeing that I want to keep seeing.
So, as I lay here tonight, attempting sleep next to another wonderful man, I can't help but wonder if I will ever meet anyone that I can imagine settling down with. I also wonder what happened between my early 20's and now. I am about 20 days from my 30th birthday and somewhere along the way, I stopped planning my future with men and became happier than I have ever been. My only concern is, if this kind of change happened in my 20's, what will my 30's hold and how will I feel when I'm 40??? I guess only time will tell.
Fast forward to now. Fast forward to tonight, actually. I sit here typing after having another good date. There was a connection. There was feeling. And, there was a complete inability to imagine how I could ever really have a relationship with this guy. Sometimes I try to imagine it just for the hell of it. These days, I have little luck imagining a successful relationship with anyone.
I have honed in on what I want in men. Not this list of qualities that I expect to find all in one man, but an idea of things that will and won't work. I know when to call it quits and stop responding to texts. I know when something is just not worth the time. I also know when it will be something worth while. Yet, I can't ever see a future with any of the men I date. I feel love for some of them, deep admiration for others. I find qualities that are great and there are probably 4 guys that I am currently seeing that I want to keep seeing.
So, as I lay here tonight, attempting sleep next to another wonderful man, I can't help but wonder if I will ever meet anyone that I can imagine settling down with. I also wonder what happened between my early 20's and now. I am about 20 days from my 30th birthday and somewhere along the way, I stopped planning my future with men and became happier than I have ever been. My only concern is, if this kind of change happened in my 20's, what will my 30's hold and how will I feel when I'm 40??? I guess only time will tell.
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