Timelines of Dating

Is there a timeline in relationships?

I recently did some research on this subject, and all the experts disagreed on the correct amount of time of various stages…when is the right time to have sex? To move in together? To get engaged? To get married? The correct answer is that it depends on the relationship.

Last year, my best friend and the guy she was dating (on and off, for about three years) introduced their good friends. Over a shared happy hour, they shared a double date and various levels of small talk.

A year later, the newly-introduced couple is engaged. My best friend and her then-guy? Off-again.

It’s so hard to not have mixed feelings when this happens – especially since my best friend has been asked to be the maid of honor in the wedding of these people she introduced, and her now ex will also be in the wedding party. Awkward much? How can she not feel a little resentful, seeing how the people she set up succeeded and her own relationship did not?

The correct response is to be a good friend, and know that one relationship has nothing to do with another. They all have their own factors and situations. Still..we’re all human, and this sort of sucks.

Me, I’m just hoping for a well-stocked cocktail hour. It’s going to be a long night.

Image: Sxc.hu