Relationships are a lot like Poker — you’ll have to fold many hands before finding one worth playing, and even then there’s still a little gamble involved if you’re lucky enough to win.

Nah, it’s not really that bleak.

Seriously though, it all depends on what you really want. Do you want to live out your porn star fantasies? Be whisked away by Prince Charming? Seduced by America’s Next Top Model? Or are you seeking a real relationship? A solid relationship is a lot like being on a plot of land covered with trees:

  • If you’re in a rush for some temporary shelter, you can make a lean-to just about anywhere — cold, quick-n-dirty, and temporary, it’ll serve its purpose. If you’re thinking a little ahead you might even have a tent and some basic camping gear and forgo the lean-to.
  • If you want a hut you can chop down a few trees and make one. If you want it to be fancy you might even be able to fashion a door and have a window. Won’t be much for keeping the bugs out, though.
  • If you want a real house, first you’ll have to clear out some space — cut down trees, pull up stumps, maybe even burn away some of the underbrush and level the land. Then you’ll need a blueprint of the house you want to build. All of this time and effort required JUST to lay down the foundation.

No matter how ingenious we think we are or how many shortcuts we think we have in life, every house has to have its foundation in place first before everything else can come together. We can try to build a house from the top down and, in theory, make it work, but all of the pieces are pretty much useless without that foundation. And if the foundation can’t happen, everything else is a waste of time.

— Max