Week 40 - Day Three: Dating Again

BIKE: Eastwood
TIME THERE: 25 min.
TIME BACK: 24 min.
WEATHER: partly cloudy, 12C, 17 km/hr head/crosswinds gusting to 30 km/hr there; partly cloudy, 20C, 20 km/hr cross/tailwinds gusting to 35 km/hr back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, zip-up hoodie
NOTES:

I've been a dating machine. At least that's what one of my colleagues has called me. A couple of weeks ago, I ended up going on three dates in one week! I've gone on multiple dates with one of those fellows, and now within the past couple days we've decided to give exclusivity a shot. Goodbye first dates, hello fledgling relationship!

Dating as a single parent and a bike-commuter is kind of tricky. After work I bike home and arrive a half-hour later dressed in the most ridiculous "athletic" wear, often drenched in sweat. Then I rush to get my daughter from daycare and spend the next hour cooking, serving, eating, and cleaning up after dinner. Then I bathe my daughter, play with her a bit, read her some stories, and put her to bed. Now the real work begins: transforming myself from a sweat-encrusted, tired, single mom bike-commuter into a stunning, well-maintained, clean, and made-up fantasy woman. Well, okay, maybe that's a stretch . . . regardless, it takes some time and effort, damn it!

I typically rush myself through as thorough a shower as I can muster in the time I have, then I quickly try to fix up my hair and makeup a bit. And then I'm finally ready to go, and it's 8:00 pm, and between being up at 6:00 am and working all day and playing with my daughter and biking 16 km, I'm yawning already. Shit!

The good news about exclusively dating one person and getting to trust him is that I can invite him over to my place after my daughter's in bed. This saves me babysitting money and the guilt I feel whenever I spend time away from my daughter, and allows me to head straight to bed right after our date ends and he leaves. I like how this works out. Sure, it might be a lot to ask of him to always come to me, but luckily so far he's found it's worth it.

So, yeah, I'm tired at 8:00 pm, and the day after a date I find I'm that much slower and more tired during my commute, and sometimes the effort it takes to get date-ready at the end of a long day wears me right out. But you know what? So far, I'm finding it's worth it.