As some single girls reading this know, there are two ways to approach a girlfriend who gets a new man in her life: 1) You can hate her for having a man when you don’t, cringe when she mentions his name, and secretly hope he’s a bad kisser. Or 2) Be stoked for her and live vicariously through her romance. I'm opting for vicarious living.

Sea's dating a sporty guy who shaves his head and offered to cook for us. We sit on her bed and labour over what she should wear on her dates. Is the black shirt with the button snaps too dressy? Does it go with the green khakis? It doesn’t make her butt look big does it? Nope. Maybe a pink sweater would be nice and feminine? Hair up or down? Down. After the dates we analyze everything that was said. Since they’ve been on three dates, does that mean they’re dating or seeing each other? Are they boyfriend and girlfriend?

We decided that dating is when two people go places together but aren't committed. Seeing someone means you're sleeping together but not committed. Sea thinks someone is your boyfriend or girlfriend if you’ve slept together and are committed. But what if there’s commitment and no sex? We decided you can call each other boyfriend and girlfriend in that case too. Sometimes Christians use the term “courting." I think that means you like someone and want to get to know him or her, but you don’t want to call it dating because there’s no commitment in that. Courting doesn’t involve sex.

My other sister Attitude just got engaged. How exciting is that?! To celebrate, I stuck my foot in my mouth:

She phoned me excitedly and said, “Heidi, this is my official phone call to ask you if you wanted to be a part of my—”
“I’ll totally be your maid of honour!” I interjected, “Er, I mean… uhhh… whoops.”

Fortunately she saw the humour in my faux pas and confirmed that she wanted me to be her maid of honour. What was I thinking? (Sometimes I wonder how I can have such bad social skills. I think that’s why I like Grisham from CSI Las Vegas.) I can’t wait to help her with everything. She’ll be such a beautiful bride. Maybe I’ll start doing sit ups. Or... maybe I’ll order another frapaccino. Hmmm.

Stella’s “special guy” who lives in another town sometimes takes pictures on his cellphone throughout the day and sends them to her so it’s not like they’re far apart. She loves it. I think it’s sweet. If I date someone, I hope he does that. She has her e-mails delivered to his phone. I’m not sure how that works.