JUMPING THROUGH HOOPS

It has been suggested to be my several different people that I should compile my various "pursuit of relationship" stories. They think it would be a very amusing read. They mean it as a compliment but I pretend to take it as it sounds, because it's more fun to do that. In truth, though, it does not really bother me. I am rather taken by the idea. I may do just such a thing someday. I've even gone as far as to identify which stories might be the best to include in such a collection. I do have quite a few.

The original idea came from my mother. I make her laugh when I tell of my various adventures in dating. She first mentioned it to me after I told her about the time I tried to take a girl out by arranging an ice skating trip among my friends to which I could "incidentally" invite the girl in a sort of low/no pressure situation (this was in college, but I apparently had not yet escaped the middle-school notion that you must keep your interest a secret from the object of your interests until the last possible moment). It took me a while to find a night when my friends could make such a trip, but I did eventually. Then, armed with just enough confirmations (several of them couples, but not ALL of them, of course) that I could legitimately say "Hey, a group of us are going ice skating this Thursday and I was wondering if you'd like to join us," I called her up and said just that. To which she responded, "I'd love to, but I'm busy on that night." The night I had so painstakingly picked so I could have the right mix of friends present. Once the purpose of the trip vanished, my friends all admitted that they weren't really that interested in going skating anyway, not just then, and the whole trip was canceled. It made my mom laugh and she told me I needed to write these stories down somewhere, because it was not the first time one of my adventures had made her laugh, nor would it be the last. It made me laugh, too, which is good, because as I have already said, it wasn't the last time I did such a thing (see previous column TRU LUV). And I know of friends who also have amusing stories to tell (see previous column WHY I LOVE VALENTINE'S DAY). I imagine, on this particular subject, just about everyone has done something at least faintly ridiculous.

I even know what I would call it, "Jumping through Hoops," because that's what I tend to do. Elaborate schemes and well thought out plans (perhaps "endlessly" would be a better word than "well"), I am the Rube Goldberg of the dating world. It's fun to be me. I do not always get the dates, but I do get good stories to tell.