Are We Restricted By Our Geography?

As it is at many colleges, science is a requirement. I chose anthropology. It was relatively interesting but there was one lecture that really struck a chord with the students. It wasn't until a few years ago that the full gravity of what the professor said really sunk in. He said we have to settle in our relationships because we are restricted by our geography. And the crowd went wild. You could feel and hear (gasp) the disbelief in the students. Actually, it was more like anger. Was he saying, that my husband settled by being with me? Or did I settle by being with him? How could he say something so ignorant? The class protested loudly. Grumble, grumble, hiss, hiss. What do you mean we settle?

According to my professor, we only have a certain geographic span in which to find a mate. Since I was married at the time, I didn't really give it much thought. I'd made my bed and I was lying in it. But now that I'm single again, I got to thinking about this 15 year old lecture. What is he really saying? What do you mean we only have a limited geographic area? We can go anywhere we want. We have cars. We're mobile. We have opposable thumbs for God's sake. But then I thought, how far am I willing to travel to find true love? 10 miles? 50 miles? 3,000 miles? I don't know. I feel like for me, Chicago is done. I've lived here my whole life and haven't found "the one" yet. And now with the price of gas, I don't really want to go any further than bike riding distance. So if geographical restriction means we're only willing and able to travel so far to find our mate and if our mate is not within that traveling span, then by deduction, I guess we're kind of screwed. Thank God I have cats.

Pic: Albert on the left and Aabagaa (almost as beautiful and gorgeous as Alexa - my daughter has a very high self esteem)