Thoughts from Chickadee

When people on Hinge have asked what I'm looking for on the app, I've always broken my answer down into short-term and long-term. Long-term I'm looking for a partner, but short-term I've been looking for a date to go with me to a wedding in November.  The RSVPs for that wedding were due last week, and I decided to go alone. Not only did this simplify the issue of needed to find someone (date or friend) with a free evening for the wedding who wouldn't mind being alone for part of the evening as I took care of bridesmaid's duties, but it suddenly removed a ton of pressure I had been feeling. I hadn't realized just how much I was trying to stick to the imaginary timeline I had created for myself (described in last week's post ). Now I feel free to take my time connecting with potential matches.  Without the timing pressure, I also was reminded that I am happy on my own! I like being able to read all day on a weekend without anyone interrupting me, I like ru...

 One of my favorite ways to spend an empty Saturday or weekday evening is to fire up The Sims 3 on my laptop and fill a few hours with creating variations of myself, friends, and fictional characters. Usually my goal is just to let the Sims live happy little lives with lavish houses, interesting careers, and fun side-gigs like jockeying, playing guitar in parks, or scuba diving for treasure. Sometimes I mix it up and decide to see how disastrous I can make the Sim. Either way, I tend to have certain trends in how I make the characters. Whenever I make my Sim, I always use some combination of the same seven traits: Usually the lifetime goal of my Sim is to become a five star chef or be best friends with 20 cats or become a bestselling author (all of which are pretty darn close to things I would strive for in reality). Sometimes I just focus on achieving those goals for my Sim, but other times I will add in a family for them or a relationship to pursue. Recently while creating anothe...

While talking with my mom recently about my plan to make dating a priority, she smiled at me and said "It really does sound like you're ready for a relationship!" What was it that prompted this statement? Was it a long explanation of how I have moved past the desire for a fairy-tale perfect romance and recognize the inability of any relationship to live up to that kind of pressure? Was it the five years of work I have done in order to be comfortable in my skin and ready to share myself with another person? Was it my ability to make the world's best chocolate cake? No. It was the story of a few months ago when I had to go to a mechanic to have my brake pads replaced. I made an appointment for the end of the day, thinking I would wait in the shop and read a book while they did the work and then I'd drive the car home in under an hour.  Ha. Ha ha. Instead I was told they would have to keep the car overnight for the work. Since I only have the one car and no one to dr...