GenQ - For the not so straight individual

One thing that I seem to be doing more frequently these days, is putting myself out there. Whether it be to develop my career, to meet new people, or to meet that special somebody; six months ago I never used to put myself out there. Recently, I was reminded why that specifically was the case.

I came across one of those widely circulated e-mails which had children's opinions on love (none of these children were older than the age of ten). After having a good chuckle at some of the responses, and just going 'awww' at some of the others, it dawned on me; we as adults make relationships so sophisticated and attempt to make them more meaningful then they truly are supposed to be.

Up until recently I would never go looking for 'the one'; I wouldn't say that I am today, but I am getting to the point of my life where it would be nice to have someone around. I previously gave up because I thought it was too difficult. The sad thing is; a seven year old agreed with me. This innocent child's words were "If falling in love is anything like learning how to spell, I don't want to do it. It takes too long." Or maybe I was secretly listening to this young lady's response; "It's never okay to kiss a boy. They always slobber all over you ... that's why I stopped doing it."

I asked myself if love truly is the most important thing in the world; and then I chuckled at a response from an eight year old; "Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too."

A casual reminder of how smitten having a crush truly can be, the perspective of a seven year old boy; "Yesterday I kissed a girl in a private place ... We were behind a tree." And how do you make people fall in love with you? You tell them "that you own a whole bunch of candy stores", or you buy them French Fries when you take them out to eat.

Oh if only love was that simplistic, but it's not. Everything has to be perfect, otherwise it's just not right or that perfect memorable moment that you think about many years to come in the future.

Where is the fun in love when there is too much preparation to make things perfect? What happened to that spontaneity that makes certain things memorable? Maybe I should stop trying to figure it all out, and listen to this grade two student; "It gives me a headache to think about that stuff. I'm just a kid. I don't need that kind of trouble."