U-G-H

U-G-H

Another relationship bit the dust over the weekend. Seems we weren’t “at the same place” in our lives. This is code for “you have young kids and I don’t.” That’s OK, though, and I’ll tell you why.

I remember one of the first women who contacted me on Match was exactly the same age, super cute (she looked just like Suzy Kolber), and had a travel job like me. Even before we met, it turned out we were traveling to the same state during the same week, and had made plans to have a cup of coffee there.

Then she re-read my profile, and noticed my young kids.

“Are those your kids or your grand kids?” She asked.

“My kids.”

That was that.

Date canceled.

Why?

We weren’t at the “same place in our lives.”

This formula has repeated itself numerous times, so often I’ve lost track. I now affirmatively call attention to the issue in advance if it seems like I’m developing a connection with someone new.

“Ready for a deal breaker?” I say.

“Uh oh.” They respond.

“I have young children.”

That typically ends the conversation.

One women even responded with a noise.

“Ugh.”

The reason I’m OK with all this is because there are only two things in this world I can control, my relationships with my kids and my job at work (three if you count my life at the gym). Dating is a wild card. Unpredictable. Unreliable. Unknown. People come and people go. It is at best entertainment and at worst a distraction from what I was put on this planet to do – parent the kids whose very existence drives these women batty.