I got stuck at #8

My therapist thinks it would do me good to start dating again. After all, Eric and I have been broken up for over 7 months, and he's already married for over a month already, for crying out loud. Isn't it time to "get back out there"? I suppose; easier said than done, however. She suggested I take a look at eHarmony. She's had other clients use the web service successfully and prefers it over others she's reviewed. I, on the other hand, am not too keen on the notion of a dating service. I find it all so contrived. Maybe it's an unrealistic notion in today's society, but I prefer to meet men the old-fashioned way, actually meeting them in the course of my everyday life. Think of it, if you have a mutual friend, the guy's already "pre-screened" in a way. You trust your friend's judgement, so you know the guy they are recommending to you is an inherently good person, even if the dating doesn't work out. If you meet someone while participating in a favorite hobby or activity of yours, at least you have somewhere to start. Nancy has never led me astray before, so I went ahead and logged on.

I didn't get very far though; In fact, I barely made it past the first page. Question #8: "Would you be willing to accept a person who has child(ren) under age 18 living with him full-time? yes or no." What happened to "maybe?" How can such a complicated question have such definitive answer options? Is he a widower? Yes, of course I would be ok with children. Is he a man-whore whose exes have dumped the children on him and ran off with their new rock-n-roll lovers? Absolutely not. What about a divorced man? I don't know about that one, what were the circumstances of the divorce? How is the relationship with the ex now (because you know you will always have her in the relationship)? Maybe I'm thinking too hard.

Or maybe I'm too scared and looking for excuses to not do this. Sometimes the thought of dating again terrifies me. I have plenty of excuses for not dating, and while they are true (I am in the midst of moving and I really have recently started a new job which is exhausting) I think a lot of that is rationalization.

So, we'll see. Maybe I'll just have to sit down with a good friend and trudge through the questions together. And maybe something good will come of it, not necessarily in the form of an elegible bachelor, but a little less fear of the big bad dating world. Click here to read more...