The End of Dating

When I left for college I had the full intention that at some point in the next four years I would meet the person that I would spend the rest of my life with.  My parents, who have been married for 29 years, met their senior year of college at a restaurant/bar on their campus.  My dad tells the story of how he saw my mom in her jeans, turtleneck, and cowboy boots and thought she was "something else" and knew immediately she was the one.  So what was I supposed to expect?  Well of all things I did not expect I would be graduating in three months and still be single.  

I can count on one hand the number of real dates I have been on the past four years. However, I can't count on one or even two hands the number of "hookups" I have had.  But as crazy as this sounds, almost all of my friends can say the same thing.  My college relationships that you will hear about in later Meltdowns all started from a "hookup" rather than a date.  Somewhere in the past couple of years I really stopped expecting guys to ask me out on dates like they did when my parents were in college, because with our generation, that just doesn't really happen. I'm getting pretty sick of having to live my life with such low expectations, and I think that other girls should be sick of it too. 

I want a guy to have to build up the courage to ask me out to dinner, rather than drunkenly ask me at the bar if I want to walk back to his house for the night. I want to get nervous butterflies in my stomach waiting for him to come to my house and pick me up, not check my phone all day to receive a text I know he will never send. I want to stress over the outfit I am going to wear and make all of my girlfriends come over and watch me try on the endless options, rather than search for the items of clothing I lost the night before around his bedroom trying to escape before he wakes up.  I want to feel the awkward pause when he puts the car in park before he leans in for the first kiss, not kiss him in the morning knowing he will probably act like he doesn't know me the next time I see him. 

The art of dating is lost and I want to find it again.

Keep Melting,

-Em