I come from a very cookie cutter family. My parents met in a high school English class, my father a senior and my mother a junior. They dated, went off to the work force and vocational school, and then got married at the age of 22, had two kids and lived happily ever after.
My brother, ten years my senior, met his wife in middle school. They've been together ever since. They're the kind of couple that people go, "They're still together?" They got married two years ago, and now they have a one-year-old son. They’ve been together for more than half of their lives.
And then there's me, the girl who's been on countless dates with a bunch of guys that I either never heard back from or they never heard back from me -- all for good reasons. I didn't meet my soul mate in middle or high school. I don't even think I've met him in college.
When I was a little kid watching Disney movies and then the little TV movies about teenagers and quirky romances, I had this idea that I would meet the love of my life in a classroom setting, and if it didn't happen by high school or college, it would happen in some obscure place like the grocery store or a cute, little coffee shop. It'd probably be fall or winter and we'd be bundled up in our coats and our cheeks would be rosy from the cold and-
God, that sounds right out of a damn cheesy movie, doesn't it?
Anyway, he sees me reading the back of one of his favorite novels, or I see him rifling through the cereal aisle and we bond over the same beloved sugary breakfast choice or have a debate about why Oreo O's was hands down the best cereal to ever grace earth.
The literary romantic type inside of me is still pining for that meet-cute. Every time I'm in a bookstore, a Starbucks, a grocery store, you can always see me peering over my shoulder. Is he The One? What about him? Is he smiling because he wants to say hi or is he staring at someone else? Oh, he's just looking at someone else (Good thing you didn't say hi, Katie).
Is the millennial generation just not made for that kind of romance anymore? Are we doomed to the life of technology where we use dating profiles and poorly lit photographs to attract our potential soul mates?
I don't belittle anyone who uses dating websites. I think they're a pretty great invention, actually. It's just that our generation is always in a rush, which is kind of ironic because I feel like I’m constantly waiting on the moment that I'll meet the love of my life.
My dad once asked me what was the big deal about dating websites. "Can't you just go out and meet someone in person? Does everything have to be based off of technology?"
I tried (awkwardly) explaining to my old school Sicilian father that they were mainly for quick fixes and dates. He still didn't really understand that. Then I tried explaining that it's hard when you're bombarded with school and work and you've got a million things going on in your life. Sometimes you don't have the time to go out looking for the right person.
Where do you meet the right person?
Grocery stores? Coffee houses? The mall? Mutual friends? Everyone’s in such a rush. We don’t stop to make conversation with just anyone. It doesn’t happen like that anymore.
The point is to never go looking for love. You’ll never find it. It needs to find you. It’s going to find you when you least expect it. It’s going to find you when you look like a wreck in the most unexpected place at the most unexpected time.
Because you’re not going to meet your soul mate in a coffee shop.
