My friend Anne recently travelled to New York state to spend Christmas with her boyfriend and his family. Having been with her boyfriend, Rick, for well over a year she felt confident that the trip Upstate for eight great days with his family, grandparents and all, was a milestone in their relationship.
She says everything went great and that meeting all the family members has made their relationship stronger. But it also made her realize that she wasn’t the only one to be close to her now bf.
On the first awkward afternoon, Anne was helping his Grandmother in the kitchen when she looked over to see a rolo
dex on the counter that happened to be opened to Rick’s card. She couldn’t help but notice that her name had been penciled in (oh so small) beneath another woman’s name that had been crossed out.
Anne recognized the name to be that of Rick’s ex-girlfriend. Anne’s not naive and understands that he has had girlfriends before her that, of course, have been introduced to the family, but the last thing she needed was a reminder on Christmas when all she wanted to do was make a good impression.
Looks like next year Grandma will be getting a new rolodex.
A study was done over 30 years ago by the University of British Columbia in Vancouver that basically analyzed the sexual arousal of people on a scary bridge. Sounds odd and fairly simple, I know, but the results are interesting.
Basically it was discovered that in moments of high anxiety we are more likely to find someone attractive, fall in love with someone, or have an orgasm. Considering the age of this study I know that much has been written about the findings, but after I read it I had a great discovery myself: Romantic comedies could actually be accurate!
For much of my adult life I’ve scoffed at films like Serendipity, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Bridget Jones’ Diary, and others, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe it is easier, even likely, to fall in love with someone when you’re about to get married, your job is at stake, or when someone you’re dating is thrown through a restaurant window.
Maybe all these years I’ve been narrow minded in believing that love is only found in safe, healthy ways when really its more common in unsafe and unhealthy ways. Like when you are hanging on to a bouncing bridge.
So to all you nay sayers like me, have a second look at the movies you once avoided. And to those of you looking for love, try extreme sports. Maybe you’ll find your soul mate, or better yet, maybe you’ll have an orgasm.
