who needs a boyfriend or girlfriend? please let me help you!

I’m sure regular readers of this blog are sick of reading the lovey-dovey stuff I write about my boo, Jesse. I can’t help it, though. He inspires me to wax poetic on all stuff that falls under the sappy category. I swear that I was not always this way. In fact, I used to be quite the hard core cynic about love and relationships. Boy did I love that role. On many occasions, my friends described me as the Samantha of our group (actually, I really wanted to be the Miranda, because she was smart and loved sports). For a while, it was fun to encourage my friends to be sexually liberated and not tied down to one man or woman (who am I kidding? I still encourage it). Then I met Jesse and the concept of being with just one boy kinda grew on me.

My “relationships are for suckers” attitude has slowly disappeared and I’ve noticed that more and more of my friends want to be in a relationship (and for those of you who don’t, keep on truckin’). It breaks my heart to hear them speak of their strong desires to be with someone and their futile attempts to find that someone. On Friday, my friend K was telling us about how hard it is to meet someone in this city. Honestly, I never really thought about it because I was never really looking. Since moving here, she had been on a lot of dates (probably around the 30-40 mark, if I recall correctly) and none of them had turned into a lasting relationship. K turned to Jesse and me and said, “You guys have no idea how lucky you are to have found each other. It’s brutal out there.” This is not the first time that K has expressed this sentiment…while sober.

Here’s the thing. K is super cute and fabulous (like all of my single friends). She’s so much fun to be around. I turned to Jesse and said, “You’ve got friends. Who do you think?” Jesse says, “Jeff.” “Nah. I’m thinking Sid.” Jesse and I have decided to try Sid first. On paper, Sid’s great. He’s nice, quite the partier (as most of Jesse’s friends are), has his own business, and is pursuing an MBA. He also fits K's description of the kinds of guys she's attracted to. I think he and K would be a good match. Jesse and I are thinking we’ll probably invite him to a kickball game, see if Sid and K get along, and then maybe do a group hang to help move things along. The group hang sounds fairly pressure-free, I think.

Playing cupid always sounds good in theory. I only have the best intentions for K and I’d like for this to work. Worst case scenario—she goes on yet another fruitless date. Best case scenario (obviously what any cupid truly strives for)—they get along really well, date, start talking marriage after a year, cupid gets to be a bridesmaid at the wedding and wear a fabulously fashionable gown.

In practice, these things tend not to go as well as planned. For whatever reason, they don’t mesh. Your friend gets mad at you for thinking that he/she could ever get along with the inferior species that is the person you set them up with. Cupid tries to wash her hands of all blame, claiming that the best intentions were at heart. Cupid then rues the day that she ever agreed to help her friend find a man.

Well, it’s a risk I’m willing to take. I took a risk with Jesse and we ALL know how that turned out. It just goes to show you that you just never know.