I was walking into my new gym today when a guy clearly eyed me as he held the door for me. Normally I would take this as invitation to make some type of flirty comment and end up exchanging contact information before my final sit-up of the night. (Believe me, I have this gym thing down.) For some reason today though, I just said "thank you" and kept walking. It's not that the guy wasn't attractive. In fact, I can still see his pretty eyes, and I'm sorta kicking myself for not saying anything. Maybe I've become jaded. After all, if combined, my dating pools at the gyms I've been to would overfill the Olympic-sized swimming pool at my current gym. Yet, I wouldn't be writing this blog if it hadn't been for these guys. I've learned a lot from them and had a lot of fun in the process, even though I've been disappointed on numerous occasions to find that it wasn't going to work out with any of them.
Here's an example for both you and me: the summer of 2007. I had asked my boyfriend of 4 years to take a break so that we could date other people (Yes, we did end up getting back together for another year, but that's for another day). I ended up going out with the guy who had signed me up for my gym membership the very next week. He was HUGE! He was like a big teddy bear. Teddy bear and I started hanging out and spent most of the summer months together. For such a snuggly teddy bear, he was a "bad boy"--another first for me. One night after hanging out in a bar, we went back to his car with tinted windows and made out in the car for 3 hours. I felt like a teenager for the first time. I never had a curfew growing up because I was such a goody two shoes that my parents knew I wouldn't do anything crazy. What made it even funnier is that I had just moved to my current city and was staying with my aunt and uncle until my apartment became free. They ended up calling me because they were worried when I hadn't come home. Here I was at the age of 25 feeling as though I had just broken curfew. Ha ha.
In the end, teddy bear didn't fail to disappoint. At the time, he was being kicked out of his apartment, and at one point, I was naive enough to help him pay for a hotel room while he transitioned to a new place. It was a crazy thing for me to do, but I felt bad because I honestly believe he was without a place to live. Silly me, but it's a learning process, right? Plus, he was the most amazing kisser I had ever encountered. To this day, I remember those kisses and can only hope that the man I end up with can kiss like that. I've had a lot of guys tell me that I'm like a high school girl who will make out but not put out. I used to feel bad about it, but now I don't care. I'm a sexy, strong woman who likes to make out but respects her body and emotions enough to wait to completely reveal herself to a man. What's so wrong with that? Nothing, I say. Absolutely nothing.
Teddy bear was worth the risk and serves as a lesson that even if it doesn't work out with someone, you can still gain something from going out with them. Next time I see "pretty eyes" at the gym, I'm going to be my usual flirtatious self. After all, he could be "the one" or at least the one to have fun with for a while :)
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