A few weeks ago I was in Pittsburgh when Mother Nature decided dump snow on the Steel City – enough snow to make the storm here in Syracuse this past weekend look like a weak 75-cent coconut topping at Friendly’s. Airports shut down, stores closed, streets were un-drivable and I was trapped in the corner of my grandmother’s apartment with my whole extended family for an extra week.

It’s challenging to jump right back into conversation when you haven’t seen your distant cousin since he ‘mistakenly’ yanked off your bikini top in the pool six years ago, when you were on the verge of developing your bee-stings.

It’s even more challenging to get ‘when I was your age’ stories coming at you from every direction for a week. And what exactly, were most of my family members doing when they were my age? Getting married. But based on their stories, it seems like our generation is not too far-off.

My Uncle Ezra told me the story of finding his Jewish soul mate on jdate.com, ‘the premier Jewish community online for dating Jewish singles!’ Ezra told me that he knew Aunt Ruth was the one, after the first moment he saw her. He explained how relieving it was to have finally found a beautiful woman after searching for so long. Well my friend, Roger just found his girlfriend on Chatroulette. He told me that it was so comforting to have finally found a hot chick after clicking in and out of video chats for so long.

Then there was Auntie Sarah, who told me the adorable tale of moving into her first apartment with her then-new husband, Bill. She told me that they bought a dog together – a cute little Labrador named Otis. She told me about the struggles they faced training him. This reminded me of my friend Stacey, who recently became the third roommate in a Watson double with her boyfriend and his assigned roommate, John. They are always teaching him how to stay out, be quiet and not pee in their shoes.

Cousin Robert recalled the pride he felt buying an engagement ring for his serious girlfriend. He explained that he saved up three months’ salary while he was an intern at St. Joseph’s Hospital. He said it was tough, nearly starving during that time, but that it’s all worth it seeing the beautiful ring on his wife’s finger. I immediately thought of my buddy Wesley, who saved three weeks of his allowance to buy his girlfriend an iPod shuffle for Valentine’s Day. He said he was nearly forced to remain sober almost every day because he couldn’t waste the money on booze. His girl uses the iPod daily on the treadmill, though, and he says the struggle was almost worth it seeing her smoking hot bod every night.

My Great Aunt Barbara painted me a beautiful mental picture of her first dance with her husband, Charles. She told me that they slow-danced to Frank Sinatra’s ‘The Best is Yet to Come,’ in front of their whole wedding party. My Uncle Charles even quoted the song in his wedding vows when he said, ‘Barbara, you think you’ve seen the sun, but you ain’t seen it shine.’ I just saw pictures on Facebook yesterday of my friend Steph grinding with her boyfriend at Harry’s Bar. He was cute enough to post, ‘Steph, I can make your bed rock’ on her wall for everyone to see the next day. It’s almost the same as Uncle Charles.

In Pittsburgh, I heard numerous stories about honeymoons – the most magical, exciting, romantic getaways that kicked off all the couple’s new lives with their loved ones. They spoke of romantic massages, nude beaches and breakfasts in bed. At school, I hear countless stories of my guy friends going on vacations with their girlfriends’ families to Cape Cod beach houses or cabins in the Adirondacks. The guys said water tubing with their girls’ brothers was a blast, the drive-in movie with the parents was kind of awkward and being forced to sleep in separate rooms was a total drag.

Then there was my cousin, Marinette, who spoke quietly of her adultery. She teared up when she flashed back to that night when she had one too many cocktails at her work party and ruined her whole courtship. She said it was a big mistake and that she wishes she could have her real soul mate back. This isn’t much different than my girlfriends constantly blaming Grey Goose for making them a little too loose.

So while we all might not be hitched right now like most of our folks were at our age, we most certainly act like it in our own special ways. And you know what? Family vacations, romantic wall posts and casual sleepovers might be enough for us right now. Just lay off the Grey Goose.

Talia Pollock is the assistant feature editor and a junior television, radio and film major. She hopes gentlemen across campus will get on one knee with iPod shuffles in hand. She can be reached at tpollock@syr.edu.

Published on March 1, 2010 at 12:00 pm