Funk

I’ve been trying to deny it, but it’s time to admit it: I’m in a dating funk.

It happens. Especially when I find myself in a routine of:

1.) You look interesting!

2.) Coffee, or series thereof

3.) Uh…no thanks.

Looking for a connection and repeatedly not finding it is tiring. It feels a little “Sex in the City,” if I may use that as an adjective, to say that I’ve been dating so much that I need a vacation, but…yeah.

So I’m taking a break. Just for a week or so. A friend of mine says there’s no such thing as “choosing not to date for awhile” (I put in the quotes because she does the airquote finger motion when she says this), and she’s right. There is no such thing as taking a break from dating. But there is hiding!

So I’m hiding for a week. I’m hiding from internet suitors, I’m turning off my radar for people checking me out, and I’m even going to stop bugging my friend to set me up with her roommate. And while I’m at it, I think I’ll run to the opposite end of the spectrum from dating.

A nunnery.

Kidding.

What is the opposite of awkward first date conversations? Old friends. And grilling.

So I headed to our local metropolis and spent the weekend in Chicago. I packed in seeing as many friends as possible. As for what we did and what we talked about, who cares? They’re my old friends. We could have been talking about the evolution of the toothpick and I would have been happy. (Did you know that Maine is the leading producer of toothpicks in the US?)

By the end of the weekend I was so filled with good food and so lavished with hugs that I felt like I could sail through the week.

Oddly enough, the fact that the most common topic of conversation was my adventures in dating did not detract from my vacation from dating. Laughing about awkward dates is so rewarding that often just being able to share the story with friends is enough to make the awkward date worth it. By no means am I seeking bad dates, but laughing hysterically about them post mortem? An excellent consolation prize.