{"id":406,"date":"2013-12-09T10:03:54","date_gmt":"2013-12-09T15:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/?p=406"},"modified":"2013-12-09T10:03:55","modified_gmt":"2013-12-09T15:03:55","slug":"when-the-wrong-one-does-the-right-stuff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/?p=406","title":{"rendered":"When the Wrong One Does the Right Stuff"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cSo you guys dated, huh?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I nod.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow, I can\u2019t picture you guys together.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a statement I\u2019ve heard a few times. The Geek world tends to run in small circles, so it\u2019s not uncommon to run in to ex-boyfriends or dating partners. My goal is always that if we liked each other enough to start dating, we can like each other enough to be friends or at least friendly acquaintances when we stop dating. I don\u2019t need to be their best friend; I just don\u2019t want to be their sworn enemy because we weren\u2019t ultimately a good fit.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to pick out the things that didn\u2019t work when talking about past loves. It\u2019s easy to make the other person the enemy or the fool. But the truth is, there was something good and attractive that started the whole thing off in the first place.<\/p>\n

The way he smiled at me when I was feeling alone. The way he made me feel beautiful when I really needed to be attractive to someone. The emails he sent that gave me something to look forward to, that inspired me to be witty and whimsical when I replied. The help he gave me when I just wanted someone else to take over for a while. <\/p>\n

Even though he may have been the wrong one, each one did enough of the right stuff to get my attention. Sometimes that\u2019s enough to give things a try. Hopefully, I was someone who gave as good as I got \u2013 that made the world a little brighter for a while.<\/p>\n

I admit it. I like happy endings. I want people to see me and smile; I want to see someone from my past dating life and feel like I can walk up and give them a hug. I want us to be able to be real with each other and encourage each other as we look for new things.<\/p>\n

Thomas Edison is quoted as saying, \u201cIf I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward….\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I strive (even if I don\u2019t always succeed) to view past relationships that way. Each wrong relationship shows me what does and doesn\u2019t work for me; what I can and cannot contribute. And each wrong relationship was made up of two people, both who crave and deserve love.<\/p>\n

So yeah, maybe to the outside world, our union doesn\u2019t make sense. But for us, for a short time, it did. And I\u2019m grateful for the good things each one gave us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSo you guys dated, huh?\u201d I nod. \u201cWow, I can\u2019t picture you guys together.\u201d It\u2019s a statement I\u2019ve heard a few times. The Geek world tends to run in small circles, so it\u2019s not uncommon to run in to ex-boyfriends or dating partners. My goal is always that if we liked each other enough to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,8,145,144],"class_list":["post-406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dating","tag-dating-2","tag-love","tag-the-wrong-one","tag-thomas-edison"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2UnPK-6y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}