To Borrow a Title: Co-Dependent No More

So... Dating.

I've decided that of all the words in the English language this one represents to me one of the most scariest and awful words of all... The whole concept of dating is horrible. You talk, you meet, you maybe like each other, you maybe don't, you have to go through your whole tortured history of I got this scar when I was three, I have this many sisters, and this many parents and oh yeah, I hate vegetables and love foreign films. And after all of that sharing of getting to know you, getting to know me, I always wind up with the same exact outcome. Nursing a broken heart wondering where I went wrong...

But this time I think I've got it figured out, and really by now I think that's got to be some sort of prerequisite for me before I even think about going anywhere with anyone anytime soon because to be frank, and hey, we're all friends here and I'm just being honest, I've got lousy taste in men. Show me the commitment-phobe, show me the guy who says he will but won't call, show me the guy who thinks friends with benefits is the best idea around, show me the guy who shouldn't be calling me at all and it's like I raise my hand and say, "Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!"

Well, I'm not doing that anymore. It's come down to two things, either I learn my darn lesson once and for all by taking things slow and not seeing anyone exclusively until I've reason to believe that a certain someone is truly the one for me, or I go it alone from here on out... Because quite frankly, I don't handle rejection all that well, and once attached to someone, I have a hard time learning how to let them go regardless of how much of a front I put up that I'm completely over it... And to be brutally honest, I'm never really quite over any of it... Least of all when my heart was all but picking out the wedding favors.

So no more of that. I'm going to date, I'm going to meet lots of different men, and I'm going to be as slow as a gosh darn turtle while doing it. And I'm going to have my own set of rules by which I'll follow...

Can you take me to the movies? Absolutely.
Can you take me out to dinner? Any night you want.
Can you meet me out for coffee? Sure thing.
Can you talk to me on the phone? Yes, but for no more than an hour and certainly not all night.
Can you meet my kid? Not a chance of that happening anytime soon.
Can you come over to my place? Only long enough to walk me to my door before you leave.
Can you meet my family? Ummm, I've only known you for five minutes...

Listen a woman of my age has got to have a sense of humor about all of this now, I mean seriously, I've pretty much got the basics down of how to fuck a relationship up from the start that trying it a new way certainly can't cause me any more harm... So here's to it.

Date number one...