I was standing in a penthouse hotel room overlooking Trafalgar Square on the evening that I grew up.
Over the years I have made some relatively stupid dating decisions. It’s easy to do. Swept up in the romance and thrill of it all it is often difficult to stand back from the situation and think about what it is you are doing, to ask the right questions of yourself. Do I really want to get into a relationship with a man who is going travelling for four years? Do I really want to be sleeping with one of my best friends on and off? Do I really want to be with a man who hates anything to do with his or your family? The answer should have been no to all of these questions but I never did stand back and ask myself even though I think if I had then I would have known the answer even back then. I could have saved myself a lot of heartache.
So one night this week I realised that I had grown up when, stood looking over Trafalgar Square with all its twinkling lights, with a glass of vintage champagne in my hand and in my very best designer gear, I asked myself one question. Do I want to get into a relationship with this man who is willing to cheat on and then leave his girlfriend of two years for me and introduce me to his children? At one of the most romantic moments of my life, still looking at the National Gallery in front of me, I put down my glass of champagne and gave the answer to my question to the man stood behind me. ‘No. I can’t do this.’ And with that I grew up.
