make like a bean and sprout (part 2)

There's my house...oh no, there's Kit's car already. PLEASE let them be inside. Well, the goodbye should be quick. Nothing to hide anyway. They know I'm out on The Date. I get out, he gets out, I give him a hug in the beam of his headlights. As the hug ends, Paul jumps out of the car and yells at the top of his lungs, "You're cheating on me, Mel!"

AI-YAH.

He runs over and yells, "You're MY woman!" I start laughing and The Date looks relieved but also confused. I explain these are my friends from Sacramento and I introduce Paul. The Date quickly gets in his car and leaves. I later call him to apologize but he's cool with it...not traumatized or anything. Paul, Kit and I laugh about the incident...Kit continues to laugh the next day. That's our running joke through the weekend. Even when my friend calls me up and Paul answers, he asks who it is, hands me the phone and then starts yelling, "Kevin?! Who's KEVIN? Are you cheating on me again?!" But Paul and I patch things up by the time they leave. We take fake, cheesy prom pictures and I think although our communication issues are a little shabby, I think we're better off seeing other people. Haha.

I talk with my Stanford afterword and we have a nice little conversation about relationships...what do you do when one is developing...how do you stay interested...should you even have to make an effort if you're interested? What do you do when your attention span is short and you run out of things to do? What do you do when you just want someone who will keep you interested and want to try things out too--but can't find someone like that? Is it too much to ask for someone who will challenge you and also be challenged by you? Questions, questions, questions...I tell him he's not boyfriend material and that it's hopeless.

But then I get off the phone and think, who am I to talk? At least he has found someone to perhaps begin to compromise with. I, on the other hand, have not even gotten close to that part. It's an Indy Chick crisis because I'm beginning to feel like things are spiraling downwards and I will never find my ideal. I think about great guys in my life and wish I could cut and paste characteristics from each guy into one new one...or brainwash the nearly perfect friend into going after me. I call up Trish...she listens and it's almost amusing. She says she'll give me a call today but I tell her it's okay. I'll be okay tomorrow. "You're okay now," she says. And she's right. I am okay.

All the reasons I love being single come flooding back into my brain. It's not like I'm single and friendless...that's when I have to start praying hard. But just being single is NOT the end of the world. It is merely the beginning.