Some people take the first stage out of town, but what are the stages of dating? This is Dr. Paul, author of Boomer Girls - A Boomer Woman's Guide to Men and Dating" and host of Ask Dr. Paul. Sometimes when we are involved with the stages of dating, we too want to take the first stage out of town. But dating does come in stages. We have the beginning, we have the middle, and we have the established. So in the beginning it's a new, fresh, exciting, enthusiastic situation that we both just love. Sometimes we're in love with love, not just with the person that we're with. It's the whole fantasy, the whole concept. It's beautiful, it's wonderful, it may be the Springtime, wine, roses and everything, the works. Then we get into the more mature stage of dating. We want to be with each other. We want to constantly have that physical awareness, that physical togetherness. And then we get into the ultimate, which is that locked in, total secure feeling relationship. A security that you know you can trust the other. so there are basically three stages. And in those three stages, they actually evolve into the next stage. When you get to that last stage which is really the best, this is the place where you feel secure with the other person. You trust them and that's the basis for any relationship is trust. You feel secure. Whether you're a woman or a man, you know that you don't have to concern yourself with the other flirting around, seeing somebody else, doing something behind your back. That is that secure feeling you have in that last stage of the relationship which actually is the beginning because that's the point of where you probably are going to say, "let's spend our life together". So it does evolve and of course, we need to evolve with it and have a great life with the significant other that we've selected. This is Dr. Paul. May your fantasies of today be your realities of tomorrow.