We sat on the curb in a travel plaza in Delaware. Headed home from a long weekend in New York, my best friend and I were at the mercy of the bus company's choice of rest stops and subsequent dining options. Clutching my kosher hot dog covered in liquid cheese applied by pump, I couldn't help but relish the early autumn sun on my back. My friend ate his pizza slowly, as if each bite was erasing the weekend away. Like every first meal that follows a night on the town, it was exactly what I was craving.
After making a complete and utter fool of myself on Thursday and almost missing our bus Friday morning, a weekend away was exactly what I needed to relax and reevaluate my life. Escaping to New York never fails to refresh my desire to keep my nose to the grindstone in school so one day I can live the life I've imagined there. But running from our problems is not always the answer. There are some things that are harder to shake.
It is easy to cling fast to the idea that changing locations will solve the dilemma of realizing that dating at your school or in your city has become next to impossible. But we have to consider the conditions that have made us come to this conclusion. There could be underlying problems in our own lives or personalities that have made dating so difficult. Accepting the fact that we may just not be the type of person someone is looking for, the fact that we won't be around forever or even that our schedule doesn't really allow for a relationship are all things to consider before making the hasty decision to dismiss an entire city.
Nevertheless, sometimes we all do need to get away to gain some perspective. Needless to say, it is easy to get a different perspective in New York. Friday I got to meet my friend's boyfriend, whom I'd heard much about. Our enjoyable dinner made all the time she spent on the phone with him and the nights she preferred to stay in understandable. Going out later with a girl from high school at a place I never thought I'd be with her made the rest of the evening all the more special and exciting.
Retail therapy all afternoon and getting a taste of what it would be like to have a sugar daddy on Saturday was certainly a change of pace. But perhaps the biggest change of all was spending the entirety of Sunday on the couch. Choosing to ignore my usual worry about catching up on work for the week ahead, I let myself get lost in mindless reality TV. It was glorious. Polishing it off with one last night at a hot new venue would make my rejuvenation complete.
However, even though each night was different than going out in D.C., the end result seemed to be the same. Slinking home with no new numbers in my phone and no prospects for the future, I didn't feel any different there than I do here. And when Monday morning rolled around, I still couldn't quell the anxiety rising in my chest. There seemed to be an overwhelming amount of work awaiting my return and absolutely no way to get back to it any faster. I couldn't tell if the sour taste in my mouth was from too many beers and cigarettes the night before or an early onset of acid reflux due to my already-too-stressful life. It was probably the former.
Once we got on the bus I began to relax. After a short nap, we were pulling into the rest stop. My spirit brightened at the thought of the greasy food that awaited my grumbling stomach. We tossed the remnants of our gourmet meal and boarded the bus to continue our journey. We might not be able to erase or escape the feelings we attach to a certain city or place, but a cheese dog or slice of pizza will do nicely to alleviate both your hunger and your hangover.
Blair Bryant Nichols' column, "Everybody does it..." appears in The Eagle each Thursday. Blair also gives weekly sex advice for The Eagle, which appears in Q&A format each Monday.
E-mail your sex queries to blairbryant.nichols@gmail.com. Answers will appear in future issues, but we'll keep your name to ourselves. Come on! Everybody does it...
