The Flight- A Dating Story

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I love being married. I have a great husband. Lucky, lucky me.

But I also love my past. I appreciate the long list of risks I have taken in life and love. I remember some downright questionable relationships and dating escapades that I probably could have survived without. I look at my friends and family members who have dated their high school sweethearts and had children with them. I admire the longevity of their love and devotion. With this admiration comes the understanding that it was not the path for me. I had many frogs to kiss. I have quite the extensive dating portfolio and.... that is okay. While I smile warmly on the first and lasting love people have with their mates, I can say I have been in love at least 4 times, and I am pretty happy with that number. There are others in my life that I might have fallen in love with had I been ready or willing to allow myself to be completely smitten. Wonderful people who were in my life at the wrong time. But, as often say... "Nothing gets you over the last one like the next one" and I was happy dating "Mr. Right now" in my late teens and early twenties when I wasn't quite prepared for "Mr. Right".

I remember I briefly dated this dude while I was living in San Diego. Although I would try to protect his identity by concealing his name, the truth is, I don't remember his name so there is nothing to protect. Mr. X was cute, quirky, and completely not "my type" but, as I said, I wasn't trying to marry him, just to hang out with him, learn about his interests and see what I could learn about myself through him. He was moderately friendly- I wouldn't call him particularly funny and he came from a wealthy family. He seemed completely spoiled which wasn't his best feature, but he was among the most spontaneous people I had ever met, and certainly ever dated. This was his best feature. He wanted to go places, do things, see people and if that meant jumping up at 2 a.m. to do so, then it was going to happen.

There was one night when he and I and my roommate were hanging out with his friend. The four of us sat around a table talking about career and education paths when the friend, Mr. Y, mentioned he wanted to be a pilot and he had a pilots license. He couldn't have been more than about 23 years old, so we totally thought he was b.s.'ing for the sake of trying to make out with my roommate. So us girls grilled him on the fact and he said he would prove it by taking us for a ride, right then, at 2 in the morning. In an effort to call his bluff, we obliged the boys by allowing them to drive us to the "airport" where a number of small planes were "parked". He pulled out a set of keys and opened one up. She and I were taken aback by the fact that the kid did in fact have a pilots license and access to a plane at a ridiculous time of night. We did what any stupid 23 year old girls would do and got in... and took that flight.

I think about that flight from time to time. It was spontaneous and silly. The 4 of us sat in that 4 seater plane and allowed him to fly us over San Diego county that night. The view was breath-taking and my roommate and I were in awe of the city's beauty... and our stupidity. We didn't know these rich kids very well and yet we trusted them in that hour with our lives. It might not have been a responsible decision.... but it sure was fun.

That was dating for me. At times it didn't make sense. I was with the wrong people at the best time or I was with an amazing person at the worst possible time. I have a lot of dating stories in this vault of mine. I'm just getting started....

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