Dating Someone When You're Sick
In one of the Seinfeld episodes, a characters' tell that someone was worth dating was if said date leaned over to open the car door for the person driving -- before they had a chance to get their keys out and open the door themselves.
I thought it was cute at the time, but that's never been my tell. Mine has more to do with when someone is at their worst. An easy one is if someone is sick, but there's a wide range of behaviors that fit the bill: like the guy who never returned my calls after I told him I had to leave town to attend my fathers' funeral. Pretty obvious that one, but you get my drift.
So right now, I'm sick. And not just a sniffle, either. This is the kind of flu that makes you feel like you're inhaling mud. The housebound kind, even if you are desperate for Kleenex. The kind that, if you were dating someone, you'd call and ask them to kindly grab you some tissues along with maybe, perhaps, some soup? Thanks baby, you're the best.
Unfortunately I have no such person to ask; like many of you, I too am currently single. But even if I did, I'd have to temper my cold with the status of our relationship. Ask too soon and the person you're dating sees you at your worst early on - which (in my personal and professional experience) leads some people to bolt as soon as the favor is finished. Alternatively, I've had one relationship where my date getting sick solidified our bond; I fed him homemade soup, scented the air with lung-cleansing aromatherapy, played soothing music and pressed cold compresses to his forehead. Five years into that relationship he would have never let me dote on him like that, yet mere months in it was magic. I still look back to those hazy, dare I say romantic days with fondness.
What about you? Do you have a timeline as to when you'll allow your date to see you sick? Is there a 'good' time? Or, do you have a different 'tell' for when you know someone you've just started seeing is someone worth investing more time into?
Comments
I think that exposure at any time is always a risky business!!
We always want people to accept and love us just the way we are…but that’s a tall order, I can assure you. The reality is that most times, folks are in a relationship for some some of selfish expectations; there’s something (defined, or undefined) that they expect from you. They may not admit it, but more often than not, it’s there somewhere in the subconscious.
So when you suddenly show your ‘negative’ side, they may panic…or at the least feel a sense of ‘dissappointment’.
My advice?
Never let them see you sick, UNTIL YOU’VE SEEN EM SICK!!!!
Since I’m chronically ill with kidney failure, I’m always sick–I’m recovering from hemorrhagic pancreatitis as a complication of a kidney transplant too, so my abs look more like a roadmap than a six-pack. The decision, then, is when to reveal my illness.
Experimentation has shown not on a dating site profile. I bring my illness up very quickly thereafter, to be fair to myself and others, but I got zero responses until I stopped being too upfront. I still run into problems with people thinking they can deal with my debilities, but not really being able to. My current girlfriend, for instance, says she loves me–and I believe her–but she’s afraid she will harm me if we have sex. I’ve tried to explain that aside from not fearing death (been there, done that), someone always goes in the end, there are no guarantees: she may well slip and break her neck tomorrow. That’s the main thing I’m noticing since I returned from heaven–everyone’s so afraid! Afraid to love, afraid of being hurt, afraid of being taken advantage of, afraid of losing their job, afraid of war, afraid of global warning, afraid of the economy. It just doesn’t matter! Attitude is nearly everything, and all this stuff happens or doesn’t happen. It’s how you respond that matters, you can’t control what goes on.
Hey Bonny!
Hope you feel better soon!