It was a Saturday morning, the sun was shining, and the park was filled with families and friends getting ice cream, drinking coffee, having birthday parties and walking their dogs. Wholesome? Definitely. Sexy? Not so much.
This was the context of my most recent date, a date which has since left me feeling bewildered. There really wasn’t anything wrong with it. We got a coffee and a croissant, walked about the park for over an hour discussing our lives, exchanging funny stories, sharing interests, seeing where they overlapped and learning where they diverged. Objectively, the date was enjoyable. But in all honesty, there was nothing fun, silly, romantic, or sexy about it whatsoever. Afterwards, there were a few short chats before I sent the message saying it wasn’t going to work.
I can, of course, blame this on chemistry. We clearly had none and maybe it’s true, you either have it or you don’t. But I’ve gone on a handful of great dates, which I later discovered were only great in the moment. Given the correct circumstances, chemistry can be temporarily manufactured. Likewise, given the wrong circumstances, it can temporarily be sabotaged.
Shorts
What was it then that interfered with the chemistry between me and my date? The answer is simple. It was timing. And by this, I don’t mean that our paths crossed at the wrong point in each other’s lives. I literally mean the time of day.
