When Lucy entered Narnia she was confused as to why there was a lamp post in the middle of the forest; and, indeed the lamp post confused all the children.  Dating itself is a confusing undertaking- especially when you find an incongruous person in the middle of the search for the ‘one.’

On a more recent dating adventure I went out with a man I will call Reid.  Reid was not my usual type: long hair and so laid back I felt I should be even more anxious to make up for his relaxed air; but, he had a jaw line so strong it made Liam Hemsworth’s look lazy. Clearly, the dating world has taken its toll on me when small gestures like filling my water cup and strong jaw lines have me swooning.

I was, however, still weary because despite his kindness, when he opened his mouth and spoke it sometimes made my brain angry.* Despite our very different views I was intrigued and actually wanted to spend more time with him.  Which explains why our first date lasted as long as it did.

When, for our second date, he suggested a hike my brain said no thank you, I do not want to be murdered, but it came out as,  ‘Sure, sounds great’ instead and it was then I knew I was in trouble.  As a side note, I hate hiking, I’ll do it, but I hate it. I do not like being dusty…or sweaty for that matter. And hiking is the least sexy thing one can do on a date.

But I found myself driving on a early afternoon in July to attempt a hike with a man I did not know but was strangely attracted to and angry at all at once.  While hiking I found myself smiling.  Smiling…While hiking. Who was I? My brain was still fuming but my heart was giddy. No, really who was I?

The hike turned into lunch and the head-heart situation only grew worse. It was like when Edmund was trying to understand how the queen, who offered him loukoumia, could be bad. I, like Edmund, could not understand how  I could hold so many drastically different emotions for a human I just met. But I found myself listening and being enthralled by what he was saying.   At the end of the second date he was all I could think about and I was looking forward to our already scheduled third date.

And this reader is where our story takes a confusing turn. Despite a successful third date and plans for a fourth set, Reid  disappeared. Poof gone. I am pretty sure it took the queen more time to have the Faun picked up for harboring a human than it took him to change his mind.

Like the lamp post in the middle of the forest, what happened after date three that seemed to scare him away will remain a mystery.

*Thank you Mindy Kaling for verbalizing this sentiment

If you were lucky, as a child you got to read C.S. Lewis’, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe- a story about 4 siblings who enter a magical world under the spell of an evil queen. If you were even luckier you saw the original mini-series on PBS during Thanksgiving break when they ran during their pledge drives, but I digress. Though some people argue that C.S. Lewis wrote this story as a biblical allegory, I disagree. The events make me believe either Mr. Lewis may have had some bad luck in the dating world or , on a more sinister level, was laying the foundation for the dating world we now inhabit.

Just look at the parallels:

Narnia, the setting of the story, is the landscape of today’s modern dating scene. It’s always winter in Narnia- and on the dating app of your choice. At least winter is punctuated by celebratory days, specifically Christmas. But Christmas does not happen in Narnia or in dating. Also, both places are cold and full of shady characters. The children in the book experience so many of the dating pitfalls it’s a wonder this book was not in the self help section right after Steve Harvey’s Date Like a Man
Continue reading “Prologue” →