Trial and Error...

I remember when I was in the 9th grade and Alex M. paid my best friend Katherine $1 to tell me he was in love with me. He then came up to me in the middle of drama class while I was sitting on the stage and said, "So? Did, um--Did she tell you?"

And that's how relationships were at that age. Sweet, innocent, trial and error.

I made a promise to myself at the end of my last relationship that I was going to be less picky--not lower my standards--but add people to the list of "acceptable to date." I used to turn a guy down for a variety of superficial things. It pains me to say it because I hate to think of myself that way. But I'm realizing that sometimes quality doesn't always come in the aesthetic form of George Clooney.

My last boyfriend, Carl, was not someone that I ever would have intentionally gone on a date with. He was way to old for me, socially awkward, and didn't look like the kind of guy that would normally turn my head. What he was was super into me.

I'd just gotten out of an incredibly emotionally trying relationship with someone I loved deeply, and Carl was there as a friend to pick up the pieces. Over time he found the fragments of my ego and carefully stapled them back together through poetry, little surprises, compliments, kindness, and devotion. Before I knew it I was spending al my time with him, we were meeting each other's family's, taking vacations, and eventually moving in together.

From that experience I learned that the people you might not give a chance to might be the people who most surprise you.

That's how my first date with Jordan came about, my new say-yes-to-people-you-wouldn't-otherwise thing. He is not the type of guy, physically, that I date. But I made the decision to give him just one chance because I might make a friend out of it, at least. Turns out--we had a million things to talk about, had a lot in common, and I had a genuinely good time.

Who knew?