Simple Thing, Hard Way Learned

As I would say when I was young and stupid

Art credit: the author using Dall-E 3 and Canva

Don’t date where you work.

It works on TV (LA Law, Chuck), both affiliate links, but in real life?

In the beginning

Many years ago, when I was 22, I worked as an usher at a movie theatre in downtown Montréal. Neither the theatre nor its chain exists, so its name doesn’t matter.

By then, I had never had a girlfriend in high school, college, or university. I didn’t have the emotional experience to prepare for it.

Also, only two couples in our employee group worked out. They both got married after leaving. The rest flamed out, making for scenes of varying levels of drama.

I should have learned.

I’d been friendly with a coworker. I never had any notion of it going beyond that.

Then, it did.

She began kissing me to anyone, wondering if anything romantic would ever happen to them. Stop wondering. Please stop trying to make it happen. Often, it will occur out of the blue when you least expect it.

In one of those unexpected moments, I had a girlfriend.

We got closer over a month. We went to clubs. We went to the movies — she was into horror…