By Josh Sundquist
An amputee investigates his dating failures
Subject
Themes
At twenty-five, Josh Sundquist receives a phone call that shatters a relationship he thought he was in: the girl he believed was his girlfriend has a different boyfriend entirely. Standing on the sidewalk in shock, he confronts a pattern that has defined his life. He has never had a girlfriend. Not once. Determined to find out why, he launches a scientific investigation, tracking down each girl he has tried to date since middle school and asking them directly: what went wrong?
At twenty-five, Josh Sundquist receives a phone call that shatters a relationship he thought he was in: the girl he believed was his girlfriend has a different boyfriend entirely. Standing on the sidewalk in shock, he confronts a pattern that has defined his life. He has never had a girlfriend. Not…
Published in 2014, We Should Hang Out Sometime arrived during a period of significant cultural attention to disability representation, young adult memoir, and the intersection of humour with vulnerability. Josh Sundquist had already built a substantial following through his YouTube channel, where…
Josh Sundquist's relationship with his own body forms the central tension of every romantic failure. At nine years old, cancer claims his left leg from the hip down, and the amputation shapes not just how he moves through the world but how he believes the world perceives him. His prosthesis, with…
Humour functions as Josh Sundquist's primary coping mechanism, his shield against the world's awkwardness and his own pain. From the earliest pages, laughter serves a dual purpose: it makes difficult subjects approachable, and it allows Josh to control the narrative around his disability before…
Every romantic failure in Josh's life can be traced to a single recurring pattern: he approaches the threshold of vulnerability and then retreats. The pattern repeats with mechanical precision across six different girls and more than a decade of his life. He walks away from Sarah Stevens immediately…
Josh Sundquist's coming of age is complicated by the fact that he is perpetually navigating between two worlds: the conservative Christian homeschool environment of his family and the secular social landscape of public school, college, and adulthood. These worlds operate on fundamentally different…
Josh Sundquist's romantic journey would have been impossible without the friends who pushed, challenged, and accompanied him through his failures. From Tony in middle school to Brad and Kyle in college, male friendship provides the scaffolding on which Josh's emotional development is built. These…
At thirteen years old, Josh Sundquist has a crush on Sarah Stevens, a girl from his church youth group. During a van ride to a weekend retreat, his best friend Tony asks Sarah the critical question in a game of truth or dare: does she like Josh? She says no. Josh is humiliated in front of fifteen…
Before ninth grade, Josh memorises the entire eighth-grade yearbook so he can greet every classmate by name on his first day at public school. One face captivates him above all others: Liza Taylor Smith, with her droopy eyelids and warm smile. His conservative, homeschooling parents are terrified of…
Josh, now sixteen and finally allowed to date, develops a fierce crush on Francesca Marcelo, an art-class, vegetarian girl with hemp jewellery and an air of self-possession that makes even popular boys nervous. She takes the empty desk in front of him in geometry class, and he spends the entire…
Josh takes Francesca hiking to the Shenandoah waterfall he visited in eighth grade, when a stranger on a rock told him to bring a girlfriend someday. At the base of the falls, Francesca refuses to swim because the water is too cold. Josh considers pulling her in, movie-style, but overthinks the…
Josh meets Evelyn Williamson at youth group, where the two of them stand on the sideline during dodgeball. Josh wears his prosthesis for social reasons rather than switching to crutches to play. Evelyn keeps him company. She is tall and thin with large brown eyes and an easy rapport that makes…
Josh and Evelyn arrive at prom after dinner at Red Lobster. During introductions, each couple must descend a portable staircase in front of a thousand people. Walking down stairs with a hip-level prosthesis is extremely difficult without a handrail, and Evelyn's arm hooked through his elbow…
At William and Mary, Josh and his friend Brad squeeze through a basement window to gate-crash a fraternity party. Josh does not drink but is desperate to meet girls. Inside, he spots Paulette, a fellow freshman who waves him over to dance. After twenty agonising minutes of building nerve, he places…
At twenty, Josh finally gets his first kiss. Walking his friend Katie home from a party, he sits on her couch and announces that he would like to kiss her. What follows is over thirty minutes of analytical discussion: would it affect their friendship, can a Christian kiss an atheist, and at what…
Josh plans his grandest gesture yet: he will surprise Sasha at the Miss America pageant in Las Vegas. He arranges a motivational speaking engagement in exchange for a ticket to the pageant and a VIP banquet where all fifty-two contestants will be present. He drives across the desert in a tuxedo…
By Josh Sundquist
Subject
Themes
At twenty-five, Josh Sundquist receives a phone call that shatters a relationship he thought he was in: the girl he believed was his girlfriend has a different boyfriend entirely. Standing on the sidewalk in shock, he confronts a pattern that has defined his life. He has never had a girlfriend. Not once. Determined to find out why, he launches a scientific investigation, tracking down each girl he has tried to date since middle school and asking them directly: what went wrong?