He’s Not Ready For the Altar

I have a friend name Richard who is single and just wants to take it slow and get to know a person well before he has sex with them or considered marriage. Lately he tells me he is really overwhelmed by all the women he meets that want to have sex right away.

Richard has been doing the online dating thing for many months and he is trying to be cautious. He usually just asks them out for coffee or to hang out with him and his buddies and play pool. According to him that low key and friendly approach is having women perceive him as a family man. It might be because he is not that hot about having sex right away.

Women who get too close too soon and do things like mentally outfit them for the baby carrier and the wedding tux turn off men. Richard says this gets so bad that women try to drag him into domestic supply stores like Babies R US, Ikea and the Pottery Barn to see if he is husband material. He has also been taken into department stores where he has been subtly directed into the wedding gown sections (where one girl actually made him try to pick out bridesmaid dresses with him) and past the jeweler counter where the engagement rings are kept.

Richard’s message to women nowadays would be to “Relax Ladies. It’s called DATING. A man will let you know if he wants to marry you. He goes, buys a ring, gets down on his knees (well sometimes), asks you and then puts a ring on your finger. Before that day happens we are not to assume anything (according to Richard.)

It is not something that you can convince a guy to do no matter how rich your daddy is. Richard really made me laugh with some of his comments especially when he started singing – “You can’t hurry love, you just have to wait.” He is also quite fond of walking around spouting that fresher cliché “What is wrong with you. He is just not that into you!”

Richard is also sick of seeing dating profiles that are way too predictable online. They all look like they have been scooped out of the same Dating for Dummies book. He said that he is sick of reading about how a woman loves long walks, swimming and going to the movies. He is also sick of the “I can go from hiking boots to high heels in a flash” or “I am as comfortable in velvet as I am in denim.” He is also sick of women writing how they like to play pool with the boys only to find out that they can’t play at all. Still, I did point out that when the woman can’t play it gives him an ideal opportunity to put his arm around her.

So is Richard looking for a marriage partner? Yes he is he just has not found the right girl online yet.