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Date & Relate
by Sara Hodon

Find Love This Summer

It’s summer! You know what that means: A more relaxed schedule, flip flops, drinks with those little umbrellas in them, road trips to the beach, and plenty of opportunities to find love.

It’s okay to take a break from the dating scene and just enjoy the next few months with your friends or family. I know that I went through a rough dating patch last summer—lots of dates but nothing to show for them, but the summer turned out to be pretty great anyway. I got through a stack of books that I’d been meaning to read and I de-stressed after a very difficult few months. But most importantly, I spent some quality time with my closest friends and still got to do everything I’d wanted to do!

But you’ve done that. Your friends are great, but now you’re ready to kick your love life into overdrive and meet someone fabulous. Okay, okay. I hear you. Read on for a few places to meet that someone special this summer:

The lake/beach/pool
It seems almost too easy. Ladies, let’s face it—when we’re laying out and working on our tans, one of the first things we do is check out the other people around us. We’re almost required to do some guy-watching. So in between catnaps (don’t forget that sunscreen!), paging through the latest gossipy magazine or chatting with your friends, of course you’re going to let your eyes wander a bit. And guys, with so many ladies walking around in bathing suits, your only problem might be deciding which gal to talk to first. You might settle for admiring someone from afar, and that’s OK. If you’re feeling particularly cute and confident in your new bathing suit, you may just feel like being bold and approaching them. Most guys find that refreshing, so don’t be intimidated!

Amusement parks
If you’re going on the cool rides, plan to stand in line for awhile. Sure, you’ll probably spend most of that time making small talk with your friends, but look around you—do you see anyone else worth talking to? Maybe there’s an odd number in your group and you’ll wind up riding alone. Why not strike up a conversation with the group next to you, who also has an odd number?

Weekend road trips
You never know what you might find or who you might meet in a new place, which is part of the fun of road trips. It could be fun to break out of your shell and do some harmless flirting. If there seems to be genuine interest, exchange contact info. It might actually develop into something if the distance isn’t too great.

Weddings
Wedding season will soon be in full swing, so take advantage. A few years ago, I drove 4 hours (solo) for a friends’ wedding in Delaware. I knew that most of the attendees—largely former college classmates—would be couples, and I was right. However, I did manage to have a very enjoyable time with one of the groomsmen. Just watch your alcohol intake—weddings can be tough for single gals, which can lead to one too many drinks, which could easily lead to behavior you may regret.

On vacation
This one seems pretty obvious, but sometimes it’s those things right in front of us that are the easiest to overlook. Sure, you’re on vacation to relax, escape from the stress of everyday life, and spend some much-needed quality time with your friends or family. You’re more than willing to ditch your search for love for a few days, so it makes perfect sense to actually meet someone worthwhile when you least expect it. (This is probably among the first pieces of dating advice ever offered to singles.) But just be advised that sometimes a wonderful few days in paradise doesn’t always transfer too well into the real world.

Reunions
Early summer is a popular time for colleges to hold their class reunions. My alma mater has an Alumni Weekend and invites all of the classes. You may want to consider attending. It’ll be a chance to connect with old friends, see what improvements have been made to campus (and to see how they used that donation they kept calling you about), and, best of all, see what your old crush from Freshman English is up to these days. If you are interested in tracking down that crush, it might be easier than you think. Pre-reunion, you might want to look them up on your college’s website. My college has an alumni page and you can search graduates by name. If they’ve submitted contact information, fellow alums can retrieve it. Another option is to check out the reunion’s RSVP page. Some schools track the graduates who have confirmed their attendance for their class reunions, so if you graduated with your crush, you can easily find out if they plan to come to the reunion. You’d be surprised what you can find out from former classmates. They may not have given you a second glance back then, but that may not be the case today.

Date & Relate is published every Thursday by Online Dating Magazine columnist Sara Hodon.

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