I Enjoy...

I'm only me when I'm with you. Just a small-town boy and girl, living in the crazy world, trying to figure out what is and isn't true. And I don't try to hide my tears, my secrets or my deepest fears, through it all nobody gets me like you do. -Taylor Swift

Believe it or not, it is hard for me to open up. It is especially hard for me to open up when I am first starting to date someone.  I am insecure and I wonder if I sound totally dull. Who wants to hear on a first date, that I love to read and write. What is this, 1814? Am I 54 years old? I'm 20something. I should love to go out, drink, dance, and have loud fun! I do like to raise a little hell, but I do also enjoy reading and writing a lot.

Point is, I don't like going on dates. I like relationships where you are free to be yourself and don't have to feel like you have to cover up your nerdy self.

Maybe I'm going about this all wrong. Maybe I shouldn't be covering up who I really am on a first date, but let's be serious. First dates are PR meetings. It's about appearance. Yes you want to start to get to know the other person to see if there is a real connection, but you also want to sound like this super amazing person, not someone who has all these idiosyncrasies and guilty pleasures. No one wants to get to know that person on the first date. Unless of course you happen to be dating a very mature gentleman who is anxious about meeting The Future Mrs. tonight!

But to get to the point where, "nobody gets me like you do" there must be dates. Dates where you don't reveal the whole, fascinating, unique you. Dating is like peeling back an onion.  You have to go slow, because if you don't you might get an unwanted reaction. 

Ugh! Tonight I'm staying in with my onion. I like onions better than first dates.