Posted on: Tuesday, February 8, 2005
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ABOUT WOMEN
Single girl pining for PVC pipes
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By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
Girlfriend Lost.
It's one of the Seven Wonders of Couplehood.
Right between the foreign-to-singles concepts of Date Night and Ring Shopping.
It's what happens to a singlette who meets a guy who seems to fit nicely into her comfortable single life — only to be seduced by the delusional love-song cliche of two lives becoming one. Bryan Adams may have pined for you to take him as he is, take his life! But he didn't ask for yours in return.
So it happens.
Your once-single girlfriend, who used to order martinis with a coveted confidence, is now rooting for the Raiders and shopping for fishing rods.
What happened?
It starts like this:
You meet a cool guy who doesn't annoy you within the first five minutes. You exchange digits and agree to meet for dinner the following Saturday. He picks a safe Italian restaurant, you order tirimisu, he says to eat more, you're too thin — and you fall in love.
Next thing you know you're ditching your girlfriends at the bar and flaking on your usual early-morning surf sessions. All because, you say to yourself, you love spending time with him.
He's different, new, exciting. You're learning so many things, like how to drill holes in PVC pipes. He's introduced you to exotic items like cordless dremels and paint thinner. Who knew what you could do with those!
It's a new life, you declare, one filled with adventure and romance. You're eating at his favorite restaurants, drinking his favorite beer, stocking your fridge with all his favorite condiments — that have suddenly become yours now. You're a changed woman!
But your girlfriends knew that weeks ago, when you stopped to look at power drills during a recent shopping expedition.
They don't understand you, you say. You're just interested in different things. He's opened your mind to worlds you've never known. Like RPG and fantasy football.
Oh, we've all been there.
I've ditched my dancing girlfriends to snuggle with my boyfriend instead, often coming home to a snoring body sprawled on the couch, the World Poker Tour on.
And though my late-nights out with the girls have dwindled into weekday lunches and the occasional pau-hana dinner, I haven't let couplehood get the best of my once-single life.
I still hit the surf in the morning and the gym after work. I still spend Saturdays hiking or bowling or doing laundry. I still live a good portion of my life free from the influence of my boyfriend, who hasn't given up his poker games or testosterone-only snowboarding trips.
And I'm good with that.
Just tell me when I start collecting Leathermans.
Reach Catherine E. Toth at 535-8103 or ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.
