As any one who has lived in NYC will tell you, dating here is a unique experience. For every million people that live in a place, the weirdo quotient goes up a notch (or 5). There are weird rules for getting together here, that are tricky to navigate, and often tough to understand.

Anywhere else in the country, you meet someone, you like them, you date for a few weeks, and it’s mutually assumed that you’re together (or so I’ve heard). Not so in NYC. When you date here, you’re a free agent until explicitly told otherwise, which can be a delicate balance to manage in new relationships. Do I keep dating other people? When should I inactivate my Tinder profile?

The endless choices available make it easier to write someone off because you know you have a million more options, or act like a total weirdo because you know that if you don’t want to, you actually never have to see them again. It’s not like you’ll be bumping into them at the one grocery store in town.

So, I’ve found myself giving people an extra chance, just to make sure I’m not letting the 5 other guys messaging me online make me think there is always something better. Or, I put up with something I normally wouldn’t because we haven’t really defined things yet.

Then, I was preparing for my best friend’s wedding, and writing my toast to the new husband and wife. It was so easy to put together, it came to me one morning on the treadmill. Their romance was so sweet, it was just narrowing down the moments I wanted to talk about. And I realized – nothing about the guy I was seeing would sound good in a wedding toast.

So next time I found myself wondering, is this the right guy? Should I move on? I use this simple barometer. If things work out, five years down the line. Would our story be easy to tell with a glass of champagne in our hands, and our hearts full of love?

If the answer is no, it’s probably time to move on.