Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Making Room For Romance

The other day, a 60-something neighbor of mine came by to fill me in about her recent reunion in Sweden with a long-distance love from years ago. Though the reunion didn’t turn out as she had hoped, it did confirm one thing.

“I’m tired,” she said, “of being surrounded by women.”

Her epiphany that she is ready to find love again got me to thinking about a subject that’s come up more than once lately – how easy it is to fill up your life so much that there’s no room for romance in it.

Ko Sushi: Delicious Japanese fare, great service and the setting of a recent conversation about singlehood

Over dinner at neighborhood delight Ko Sushi, my friend Lauren rhapsodized about the joys of living alone. In the same vein, one of my cousins recently mentioned how happy she is with her life as a 30-something single, a sentiment I share.

As I told my newly romance-minded neighbor, New York is the ideal place to be an independent woman flying solo. Some of this is because we’re in the majority (I once read somewhere that there are approximately 100,000 more single women in the Big Apple than single men). The rest is because when you live in NYC, with its endless parade of engaging diversions and interesting people, you’re never really alone.

Still, for as much as I’m enjoying my love affair with New York, I can’t help thinking it might be time to start carving out more space for a different kind of long-term relationship. I’m looking forward, once I’m fully recovered from my recent foot surgery, to being on the prowl again -- and to all of the fun that goes along with it here in my hometown.

2 comments:

Magnifique said...

One of my friends recently came to a similar conclusion: after spending all her free time trying to become an accomplished belly dancer, she realized that she has no time to meet men, let alone go out with any. I suggested that she might want to try some kind of partner dancing instead. (I highly recommend salsa dancing for meeting cute men.) As fun and interesting as the women in our studio are, spending all her free time with them isn't going to get her anything but a blind date with someone's dorky brother.

Melissa said...

I've actually been wanting to take a partner dancing class for awhile. Every time I watch "Dancing with the Stars," I think, sign me up!

It definitely takes a concerted effort to make time for mingling with the opposite sex -- especially when you're lucky to have lots of fabulous women in your life. Lackluster date vs. girls night out? No contest!