Vancouver often gets a bad wrap for our dating scene. But there are tons of intelligent, attractive, high-integrity, and outgoing catches out there. To showcase some of these great catches, I have a series with the 24 Hours Newspaper profiling Vancouver’s top bachelors and bachelorettes.
Name: Jennifer Solomon (@jnsolomon), Biotech Professional
How would your best friend describe you?
An eternal optimist. A person who is genuine, honest, hardworking, intelligent, and healthy.
What values are you looking for in a partner?
Someone with strong integrity. A person who has a willingness to have a family. Someone who can be committed, who can share complete trust in the relationship and someone who is affectionate.
What did you learn from your past relationships?
That you have to be absolutely in love with someone. Sure, you can learn to love someone over time, however, I think that in those periods of bad storms that every relationship endures at some point, you need that initial crazy-in love feeling to fall back on.
I also learned that if a relationship is going to have a chance to be great, you cannot have one foot in and one foot out. It’s important to go in with both feet – to completely dive in or end it if you’re not willing.
Do you have any regrets?
My regret would be not having a complete open line of communication. I think I held back on asking tough questions. I did this because partly I was afraid of knowing the answer.
What do you think makes a healthy relationship?
Open communication. Mutual trust and respect. Also, having fun with your partner is critical – you have to be able to be serious and also able to be silly with one another.
What is your idea of romance?
Romance to me is not how people traditionally see it. While flowers and gestures are nice, I don’t define that as romance. Romance is having a strong sense of intimacy and connection with someone. Romance is allowing time to connect. Quality time one on one is romantic to me.
How do you think people could have more success in dating in Vancouver?
Be open to new experiences and be open to meeting people that are not necessarily your “type”.
If you were to give advice to your younger self on relationships, what would it be?
Be patient. Things will happen when they are supposed to happen. Don’t be afraid to get your heart broken – because the experience is worth it. And even if things don’t work out the way you wanted it to, try to stay positive and see the goodness in the situation. Then, carry the lessons learned in to the next relationship.
Any last words of wisdom?
It’s important to listen to your gut feeling. When it comes to love, you have to lead with your heart, not your brain. But with the right partner, hopefully these should align.
Here’s to Love
It would be interesting to know if Jennifer found Mr. Right since the article was published.
What’s the followup story?