I was in the middle of a year of abstaining from sex — not masturbation, making out, or trading oral — just abstaining from sex. In truth, I think if the right person had shown up during that year I would have caved for sure. Fortunately, or unfortunately, for me all the people I dated that year either understood my solemn vow or just cut me off and walked away knowing that I wasn’t going to be as much fun as they wanted.
Interestingly, the first 3 – 6 months were the hardest because in that early stage of the game I was still meeting a lot of new people and they seemed very interested in me. As my lack of sex-life became evident to others my confidence — and their interest — began to wane. By the latter-half of that year I went on zero dates and had no obvious prospects.
Then, one day, about eight months into my year of abstaining, I met a girl online. She was cute, petite, had a fun personality, and wanted to meet me. We went out one weekend afternoon and drove around town to get to know each other. She was feisty and fun and I enjoyed her company. She was in the US Marine Corp, had just gotten home from boot camp, and was only around for a short while before shipping off to train in her MOS.