Sex and the City

Lesha and Abbie tell me that I am like Carrie from Sex and the City, only I have a blog instead of a newspaper column. Or they did, until they realized that it's probably better if I don't end up with the Mr. Big in my life. Who ends up with their Mr. Big in real life anyway?

It's been a crazy few months. I don't have much to say about it, other than that if you are wondering why I have been out of touch, it's because dating pretty much was my second full time job from June to December. I was amazed to find that dating was not the scary, terrible disaster I had envisioned. In fact, it was much more like what Abbie had told me it would be. It was fun and I got to be as picky as I wanted. At one point, I had nine different men ask me out the same week. Obviously, this is probably a little bit ridiculous, but for someone who truly thought she would never date well, would never be able to connect with another man, it was thrilling.

I have realized this last year that my perception of men was more than a little tainted by all the stereotypes in the world. I realized the extent to which my upbringing made me afraid of men. Some part of me believed that men were these out of control beings who would endanger me and my modesty and were deathly afraid of commitment. That's what I was taught in church. Some part of me also believed that men didn't really have emotions, and if they did actually experience an emotion, they couldn't express themselves very well. Perhaps there is some truth in all the stereotypes, but I found the men I dated to be loving, compassionate, considerate, and kind people- for the most part. And even those who were a little more selfish, were still full of emotion and expressed themselves eloquently. Some were afraid of commitment, while others were running towards it head first. And only a few were crazy. Given that I wholeheartedly embraced online dating, that's saying something. What a better place the world seems with this new perspective.