Mary Kate McDevitt
This story is part of SLM's January 2021 cover feature, with tips on riding out the rest of the pandemic. Click here for more stories from the feature.
If you were already in a happy relationship, the pandemic may have prompted some tense moments with the extra time together—or extra time apart. At home, the married found out who their spouses are in work mode. (Shout-out to the “Let’s circle back to that” guys.) Couples living apart discovered that texting each other links to their favorite TikToks gets old. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, let’s keep the romance alive with these date ideas:
A date during a pandemic can feel a lot like 1800s courtship. A masked-up Mr. Darcy will greet you in Forest Park and escort you, exchanging 6-feet-apart pleasantries, down to Grand Basin just before dusk. Don’t forget to pack a picnic of your finest cheeses for Art Hill.
What’s stopping you from bringing date night home? Haul in your patio’s bistro table and weave twinkling lights above. Place two Bath & Body Works candles next to a meal that didn’t come from Chef Boyardee, then toast to silenced phones. Queue up “Italian Dinner Music” on Spotify, and bam, love is alive.
If you’ve exhausted Scrabble and art nights, consider taking the 20 Questions game from early dating days to a new level with an enneagram test. There are nine different personality archetypes. Why try it? (1) It’s like Myers-Briggs but fun. (2) It’s free. (3) It’s reminiscent of astrology but with more research to support it. (4) You might discover why your partner always [blank].
Meeting new people is hard enough even in normal times. With everyone more homebound than usual, singles looked to dating apps for some fun distraction. (Tinder is out, by the way.) Picture this: You responded to a Hinge crush’s clever prompt, sparked a texting flirtation, and decided you want to see each other’s faces. Here’s the new etiquette:
Figure out who doesn’t have that pesky 40-minute Zoom time limit. Nothing spoils virtual romance like a pop-up telling you your time is ticking away. Or settle for FaceTime if you both have iPhones.
Virtual can feel impersonal. Make sure you’re extra focused and engaged. One of the takeaways from Clare Crawley’s season of The Bachelorette is that relationships can grow really fast when you’re following your gut and ignoring every other thing (er, contestant) in sight.
It’s OK if the conversation starts with the pandemic, but save the doomsday small talk for instant messaging with colleagues and calls home. Instead, go for some lighthearted “Tell me what your brother does for a living,” and “What’s your zodiac sign?”
