Spontaneous Arrangements

One of the things I miss about college is the fact that you can create last minute social plans and pretty much guarantee that you'll have at least a few people to join you.

Whew. It's been a long time since college.

As an adult, maintaining a healthy, interesting social life is almost like a full time job. It takes planning. And scheduling. And prioritizing. And commitment. It can get exhausting.

Last week I conducted a bit of an experiment. I attempted to create last minute, spontaneous, social arrangements. Wow! What a rebel I am! What a risk taker!

All I know is that I had been working all day, it was a weekday afternoon, and it was a simply gorgeous day. And sometime in the mid-afternoon, I decided I wanted some company that evening. I had no pre-arranged plans. I wanted to be "out", to enjoy the weather, etc.

I made twelve phone calls/emails. Twelve. Six plus six. I only spoke directly to about 1/3 of the people I was attempting to contact. I mainly left voice mails and emails. Every single one included an invitation to dinner and/or drink that evening.

Potentially, I guess I could have ended up with a party of 13.

Or 8.

Or 6.

And like so many other things in life, it turned out to be a numbers game. I ended up with 1 person who was available and willing to join me. Every one else had plans, was booked, or didn't feel like going out. It might be interesting to note, that 2 out of my 12 invitations were to men. And it was one of the men that accepted.

Happy ending, though. I had a fantastic evening with a great friend.