Plan B

Happy Super Bowl! Yay for the great American past-time, eating and drinking in excess!! But, really Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.? Performing with Madonna for the halftime show? Oh and yes, go New York!


To be clear, I am an officially registered JETS fan - but I'll always root for my home state.


Anywho, Plan B. If you've been following my musings since the get-go, or if you have the great pleasure and privilege of my intimate friendship, you would know I had some not-so-realistic hopes for life after Peace Corps. But before opening that can of worms let's back up some. I may have mentioned my self-proclaimed romanticism before, I'm not too sure, but I'll state it again. I am a proud romantic. I care not if you think I am foolish, I think you're boring. I recently discovered the scientific term 'right-brained' to further explain my tendencies. Here is a sweet depiction. Needless to say, I am in love with the idea of love. Not the 'find someone manageable, make babies and graduate into a new tax bracket' type of deal. I mean that silly shit you see in the movies. I know, I know. I should be a Big Girl now and get over it. Yea... I'll have to get back to you on that.


What was Plan A, you ask? It went something like this "I'll go into the Peace Corps in 2011, meet Mr. Right because I'm SO over Mr. Right Now (kill me for using that terminology). He will hopefully be a down-to-earth, good natured, trust fund baby (ha!) that falls truly, madly, deeply in love with me and I with him. Upon our return we will move in with one another and by then, my 26 year old ring finger will be ripe for some financial commitment. Graduate school, wedding, career, and babies to follow in that exact order." Now for my male audience let this be a warning. There are always exceptions to the rule, but after 25, most straight women are on a baby mission. Whether that means having a baby soon or securing the inevitable seed. It's evolutionary biology for godsakes. Also, we LOVE to plan for the future. Put that under the same label.


Now here's the dilemma - the silly shit you see in the movies love part came before the Peace Corps. I tried, gosh danggit did I try, to hold out for that good-natured trust fund baby. We can all dream. As Shakespeare said "Love is merely a madness... and deserves a dark house and whip as madmen do." In my madness I cooked up some fantastic hopes for my beloved and I. But, as with all dreaming you soon awake. Maintaining a relationship while in separate countries for nearly three years is a far cry from realistic. Awaken we did and, as romantically as our circumstance allows, we agreed to approach our lives more sanely. Not unexpectedly, I've been feeling some self pity. Then one afternoon about two weeks later, I realized how to cure my madness.


All this time I thought I would find love in the Peace Corps. After Dan and I got together, that plan got squashed. Then, I had an epiphany in the bathtub (where all of my most important realizations occur). I needed a Plan B. Instead of trying to fall out of love, I would simply transfer the focus. Plan B = falling in love with Peace Corps. All of my romantic energy is now going to be concentrated into the experience and mission itself - not another person.  What that will actually mean, I'm not entirely sure.  But, I am already beginning to have hot sexy dreams about Armenia.






Just kidding.