Reaching in at the Same Time

When I was a young girl and obsessed with My So-Called Life (just like all my other friends), I found myself wrapped up in the idea of romance more than romance itself. My friend Jenny used to tease me that I was basically waiting around expecting to meet the love of my life at the grocery store - just as we reached for the same carton of milk.

In college, I held onto some of that ideal, expecting it to evolve. I would meet him in a similar scenario, however this time, we would be reaching for the same CD at the record store, therefore forever united by our favorite band. This may have been influenced by High Fidelity and my reaffirmed love of John Cusack. Sorry, Jordan Catalano (I will always love you too).

When that didn't pan out either, I thought, well, maybe we'll meet at a show. Archers of Loaf reunited and toured a few summer's ago, and my romantic sentiment was like, "Yes! This is it! Your Milk Man is here!" Instead a met a guy whose favorite band was Kid Rock. Sorry, buddy. That's not really soul mate material for me.

Ok, what about the more practical side of true romance? Meet at work, of course! What had I been thinking all those years? The average American spends something ridiculous like 1 million hours at work, so it is totally logical that two people would discover that they have similar interests in that environment and fall in love. Hardly. Instead you end up dating 2% when you like actually prefer Skim, or worse, trying some weird, non-dairy version just so you can remember what it's like to have a boyfriend, or something like one.

It's still not milk, people.

I don't mind all these missed connections, I know that life is full of them, and I'm lucky to get to try some on for size. I refuse to let go of the romantic ideal, and I'm happy to wait for the right moment to reach in and take hold of your hand.