Love.

I started dating when I was 24 years old. Under my parents' roof, dating was illegal. From 18-22, all of my efforts were focused on working my way through college and doing well in my studies. And then 22-23 were learning about the work force. By the time I turned 24, I had hit a conundrum: I needed to begin dating if I wanted to meet a life partner, but I was too embarassed about my lack of romantic know-how to feel comfortable dating!

The way I figure it, I headed into relationship territory 8 years behind the curve. I've always been a late bloomer, it was bound to happen here too. If Malcom Gladwell's "ten thousand hours" rule holds true and you really have to devote a substantial chunk of your life to a field -- say, social interaction -- in order to master it, then I'm in trouble. Everyone else started billing their 10,000 hours around 16. The average age of women getting married for the first time in the United States is now 27. If it takes 11 years to garner the 10,000 hours of relational experience, and I started 8 years after everyone else, that means I should be getting married at age 35.

Egads!! What if I marry someone who wants children? Everyone knows it's just good sense to wait a few years before you have kids; that way you get to know each other first. But then I'd be having kids at 40!

I've completely lost my train of thought with this blog post. It had a point, I swear.