Nine Lives?

How many lives do we get when it comes to dating and relationships and looking for the one that will stick?

In an old episode of Sex and the City, Charlotte tells the other girls, "Everyone knows you only get two great loves in your life."

Well I've had two in my life so far: The Ex and The Dude. But I feel like I have at least one more in me, so I'm hoping that Charlotte is wrong.

And while I do think that there is meant to be another great love in my life, I have told a couple of friends lately that I feel like I may have used up all of my good luck in dating. I met The Ex when I was in undergrad and we rode that roller coaster for nearly 7 years. I met him when I was just living my life and having fun. I wasn't looking for anything serious. I had never been in love and I don't think I was even wanting that at the time.

I got lucky.

And then I met The Dude, just a couple of short weeks after finally ending everything with The Ex. When I met The Dude, I had started dating, but only in that desperate, I-need-to-get-out-there-and-get-over-him way to forget The Ex. I wasn't ready yet. I wasn't looking for my next love. It just found me.

I got lucky.

But now? I don't feel quite so lucky. The Dude and I have been broken up for over a year now. This time, there was no random stranger to bump into at Starbucks, whisk me off into a romance, and save my broken heart. There hasn't yet been a summertime fling that turns into something serious because things just click. I'm still plodding along, doing the dating thing, and admittedly having a lot of fun ... but there has been no hint of another great love. At least not yet.

I'm still hopeful and I still think I'll get that one more shot. I'm just starting to realize how lucky I was the first time around and how it might take a little more looking this time. Maybe that really does mean that it finds us when we aren't looking? I'm not sure I really believe that, but my history seems to hint at its truth.

All I know is that I sometimes fall asleep thinking about this: I have been in love, 100% completely in love, with two men in my life. Please let the third time be the charm.