Cuffing season is the time of year when the weather gets colder and people get even more desperate for relationships. An interesting trend that takes place during the winter time is cuffing, and it totally makes sense. Why, you may ask? Look at this timeline and allow yourself to gain an appreciation for the phenomenon of going from shacking up with someone to locking up with someone.
OCTOBER: "I want to be single for the rest of my life!"
October brings Halloween to mind, which means that for one night --or in college, the weekend before and the week of Halloween-- you can be whoever you want, which is incredibly liberating. One night you may shack with Superman and the next night you've switched gears and are with Captain Underpants. This feeling of freedom is something that you want to hold on to forever. Forget monogamy, it's all about the single life, right!?
Well, not so fast...
NOVEMBER: "What's it like to be in love?"
During Thanksgiving dinner, your Aunt asks the inevitable question, "So, are you seeing anyone?"
You shake your head and answer back that you are single. The truth is that you might have been seeing plenty of people, but it is not the type of "seeing" that your aunt is thinking about. Aunt Sally gives you pity-eyes and returns to eating her cranberries and talking about some Home & Garden article.
"Who needs her," you think, "I don't even want a relationship." Suddenly, you look out the window and notice that snow is falling outside. You think to yourself, "Will I ever learn to love?"
DECEMBER: Operation find a significant other.
Love Actually comes up as a suggestion on Netflix and you just have to watch it. By the end of the movie you're crying tears of joy and sorrow. You're happy that everybody got a happy ending but you're alone eating a carton of Phish Food. Your craving for a significant other begins to overcome your craving for drunk food.
So, you start shopping for "somebody" like it's Black Friday. If you are successful in finding a partner, then awesome for you two; you now have somebody to keep you warm on these cold winter nights. You also get to play the fun game called, "What-do-I-get-my-new-bf/gf-for-Christmas-if-we-have-been-dating-for-a-week?"*
*My advice? Write them a card, don't use the word "love" and maybe add a gift card in there for good measure.
JANUARY: Relationship season commences.
It's officially relationship season. Ice skating, spending Christmas money on each other, Instagramming pictures of your new "BAE" by the fire place and kissing at midnight on New Years are some of the many perks of being in a relationship.
Although you initially engaged in the relationship to temporarily fill your empty heart, you realize that the weather is still frightful and that this innocent relationship is actually pretty nice and you want to keep things going.
FEBRUARY: Valentines Day (AKA the worst holiday ever).
The month of February comes with some hot water, or as others call it, Valentine's Day. At this point you've only been together a few months and you don't want things to go too far, but on the other hand you can't completely ignore the most important holiday for couples.
So, you do the whole flowers and chocolate exchange over a date at a sushi bar. Then, in between bites of a California roll, the "L" word gets busted out. Whether they can blame it on the sake or not, you know what this means, the next step in the relationship. You can't tell if you are ready for that or not, but don't worry, March will help you answer that question.
MARCH: March Madness begins (not the basketball kind.)
Signs of spring are starting to bloom -- meaning that at this point it's only snowing twice a week in Bloomington -- and you are beginning to get some relationship-induced cabin fever. Your winter time relationship was wonderful, but now you are entering springtime which entails activities such as Saint Patrick's Day and spring break. Come April and it will be the most important holiday of all, Little 500. You decide that these celebrations are ones that would be best spent single, so you and your wintertime affair call it quits.
You enjoy your life back on the market until next November, when Aunt Sally asks, again, if you are seeing anybody.
