Is Dating A Thing Of The Past?

Ladies and gentlemen, the art of flirting is not dead. It is I believe alive and well. The art of dating however, is another matter. It appears to have sadly fallen by the wayside.

Now I can on occasion trade sexual innuendo with the best of them and bat my eyelashes just as much as the next girl. Even though I am only an innocent young lady! But like others of my generation, I grew up watching lots of television shows too embarrassing now to mention and I want to know – where are the guys who ask girls out on dates?!?

I have been putting some thought into my so called ‘dating’ history and I now realise that I do use the term lightly. I have not once had a date pick me up at my place of residence with a bunch of flowers. I also haven’t had someone take me out to dinner in order to get to know me. Now some might say that I’m confusing ‘dating’ with perhaps ‘chivalry’ but as a romantic, I’m still looking for the whole package here and I haven’t seen much evidence of it around so far.

I’m talking about the anticipation you feel after someone has asked you out on an actual date (or maybe you asked them – I’m not trying to say that women should bear no responsibility). You spend time on the day or night getting ready to impress the other person and you go out to participate together in something that would not just have been part of your daily routine. Then there’s the magic when someone seeks to initiate and create romance by gesture or atmosphere. When it all feels special. And this actually goes for dates in general and not just the first one.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve just caught up, met up, hung out, veged out or bummed around with my previous boyfriends. Not to mention the times that I ‘saw’ them. That’s not to say that these were bad times, but just that I think I’ve missed out somehow. Today, its almost as if dating is the process by which you get to pass first base. If however, you can continually pass that without actually dating then going out on one is a bit like cramming after you’ve already taken the exam. Kinda pointless really. I can almost see a manual saying ‘At this time, dating should only be employed as a last resort tactic when ability to pass first base has been hampered...’.

I must admit I would be more than happy to be proved wrong on this count. Or perhaps for someone to point me in the right direction if I have in fact been looking the wrong way but till then, I think I’ll spend a moments silence to contemplate what I feel is surely a loss to us all.