22
   

Life: Looking Back, Looking Forward

 
 
Lash
 
  1  
Reply Mon 30 Jul, 2007 05:28 pm
Thanks. Happy to know sane people. I'm making gains back toward sanity, thank goodness. My family has staged several phone interventions. LOL

NY and I are going to hop in the car and meet halfway.

I feel better about everything. It's just hard to face that you can love someone---like a caring love---but it's not the right kind of love to base a life on.

Told NV that today.

He knew. We both cared so much about each other, we were sort of sticking our necks out to see if it could evolve.

We were doing the same thing. Weird.

I guess I've been so used to a "caretaking" relationship with my husband, that I don't know to focus on what I want / need in a relationship. And, I think the loneliness was pushing me toward settling for less that I should. I really don't want to diminish how much I cared for NV...

You find a GOOD man, who CARES for you--and you think that's enough. After NY, I saw how it COULD be--and that I guess made me look at my relationship with NV more critically. Finally.

<bitter laugh> Even though he is back, though, NY is being very cautious. A little reserved. (Who can blame him?) It's sort of sad that the dynamic has changed, but I feel much more comfortable. Refocusing on school, and MY life, and I hope we can keep the closeness and move slower. Tentative plans to meet over Labor Day weekend at Virginia Beach.

So, another thing I know. NV and I will be friends, but we will never be romantically involved. Little bittersweet, but so good to know.

This dating thing at 46 is not for sissies.

And, yeah, soz. What you say is true. We'll probably know within minutes of meeting---likely, we'll be certain whether we want to continue after the weekend.

Thank you sweetheart.

Sweet footnote. NY's daughter has met me online and talked on the phone, and she has been telling him he should call. He said he had been moping around the house and not himself and she kept saying that he should swallow his pride and call me. She said people make mistakes, and I've never seen you as happy as you were when you guys were talking. When he finally called, she whispered to him "Is that ___?" and he said yes, and she smiled and gave him the thumbs up.... She's 16. A lovely, sweet girl. I just damaged the pride a bit, I guess.

Ah, well.

Desperation averted.

Getting back to me.

Again. Thanks. This may seem silly, but it has really been incredibly difficult for me to get through. I value everyone who has helped.
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Mon 30 Jul, 2007 05:45 pm
Evolving.

You are evolving.

Your understanding of who you are in relationships is evolving.

It's exciting.

It's exhausting.

It's stimulating.

It's scary.

It's wonderful.

~~~

You're a project in motion. You, education, relationships.

It's wonderful, but it can be dizzying.

~~~

Sometimes you need someone else to engage your gaze/focus at a centering point.

~~~

Dating doesn't get easier. I think it gets harder because we know so much more. I think Joni had it right.

~~~

Rows and floes of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons evrywhere
Ive looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on evryone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
Ive looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
Its cloud illusions I recall
I really dont know clouds at all

Moons and junes and ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As evry fairy tale comes real
Ive looked at love that way

But now its just another show
You leave em laughing when you go
And if you care, dont let them know
Dont give yourself away

Ive looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
Its loves illusions I recall
I really dont know love at all

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say I love you right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
Ive looked at life that way

But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say Ive changed
Well somethings lost, but somethings gained
In living evry day

Ive looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
Its lifes illusions I recall
I really dont know life at all
Ive looked at life from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
Its lifes illusions I recall
I really dont know life at all
0 Replies
 
FreeDuck
 
  1  
Reply Mon 30 Jul, 2007 05:55 pm
Lash wrote:

You find a GOOD man, who CARES for you--and you think that's enough.


Ah yes. I understand this.
0 Replies
 
Lash
 
  1  
Reply Mon 30 Jul, 2007 08:01 pm
How lovely!

Thanks ehBeth--and Freeduck.
0 Replies
 
Lash
 
  1  
Reply Thu 2 Aug, 2007 01:36 pm
So, NY calls every night like he did before and tries to sound the same---and we'll never repair what I torched.

His daughter's tone is a bit different and I feel a huge difference in him. He says he didn't stop loving me----well, he stopped something.... And, I feel MY feelings changing because of it. I'm thinking we'll fizzle out before Labor Day. I can't tolerate the loss of what we had and this pathetic lumbering deathwatch that has replaced it. God, I miss who he was to me.

This is torture. I'm trying to hang in until we can meet---but why meet if the connection is gone?

I've just murdered two promising relationships.

Meanwhile, I called a man who lives in Athens, who has been (LOL) unsuccessfully trying to catch me between relationships.

He's a lot like the guy who I dated who was the incredible kisser with the body honed as a weapon.... We met for coffee....at 10:15....and my "rules of initial engagement" (LOL) are to get in and out in 20 minutes, so no one has to sit there in agony if they are uncomfortable...I asked to leave 3 times...LOL and we were still sitting there at 12:45....had fun actually talking about ourselves, deal breakers, previous relationships.... Not attracted to him. Of course.

Still, we have a date tomorrow night. Dinner and a movie.

So far: controlling, a blistering tornado of activity and engagement.... I called him on the controlling thing already. I just noticed it in the conversation...don't know how of if it translates in relationships.... We'll see.

I don't see myself having sex with this guy. Weird, because he's really handsome---all buff and tanned and vivid blue eyes and Hercules hair...LOL (Actually, this may be the problem...too "made for middle aged dating"...?) <screws up mouth> <laughs bitterly at self>

I think I'm going to slog through the sadness with NY---meet him--and see what happens. And move slower than molasses with Mr Controlling Guy---if he doesn't like it, I'll stop seeing him. We talked about how nice it is to have a couple of people to call on the spur of the moment for movies and dinner--and this is true. It may work into that type of friendship--and that would be a good thing...

He's height impaired...why is that a thing to me? (demoralized at own shallow attraction issues)

My son and nephew are blowing into town Saturday night!!!!! COULD I BE MORE EXCITED???? THAT WOULD BE A NO!!!! weeeeeeeeeeeee My favorite men!
0 Replies
 
Lash
 
  1  
Reply Thu 2 Aug, 2007 02:17 pm
I got out of July-mester wonderfully....I have an A in Teaching Hx and not sure about my Soc grade. I was really slack during this three weeks and very happy to do as well as I did.

Taking Italian, and three Eng courses.... Wanted Native Am Religion, but arguing about pre-reqs....

Doing very well...preparing for GRE---talking to three schools about MAT program.... One is SUNY....one here in GA....and UGA....
0 Replies
 
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Thu 2 Aug, 2007 02:27 pm
Italiano!!


(I'm for meeting mr. new york...)
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Lash
 
  1  
Reply Thu 2 Aug, 2007 02:56 pm
Thanks, osso!!!!!
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Lash
 
  1  
Reply Fri 3 Aug, 2007 10:37 am
I broke the date at 8AM this morning...LMAO

Told him I'd call him... which will never happen. LOL

NY's back injury has him in a lot of pain and taking Vicodin ...so our phone conversations are a bit....unsatisfying.... (he's mostly unconscious...LOL) But, he's doing all the calling....it's like he's holding his eyelids open with clothespins or something to stay awake long enough to call at 9PM...(when my rates are free) and then he's so quiet...ugh

Anyway, I'm pinning it on the pills and pain....hoping this isn't who we're going to be....ugh. Jaysus. Going from nouvelle cuisine salmon to Mrs Paul's fishstix... Anyway, I resolve to meet him.

Emailing with NV....good friends. May suggest being "Special Buddies" if things don't pan out with NY. Wonder if I could do that.... (Thinking)

Not feeling NY anymore.... Feeling NV.... Beginning to hate feelings.... lmao

Would like to slap something with malice. This is precisely why people play racquetball.
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Fri 3 Aug, 2007 11:04 am
Lash wrote:
Would like to slap something with malice. This is precisely why people play racquetball.


golf works too
0 Replies
 
Lash
 
  1  
Reply Fri 3 Aug, 2007 11:13 am
LMAO!!!!
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Fri 3 Aug, 2007 06:07 pm
This is your brain on love

^^^ interesting research goin' on

~~~

Quote:
When you're attracted to someone, is your gray matter talking sense -- or just hooked? Scientists take a rational look.


This part totally makes sense to me

Quote:
Their brains' signals were in sync, and it was good.

It probably didn't hurt that they were a little bit nervous about meeting each other.

For years, scientists have known that attraction is more likely to happen when people are aroused, be it through laughter, anxiety or fear. Aron tested that theory in 1974 on the gorgeous but spine-chilling heights of the Capilano Canyon Suspension Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia -- a 5-foot wide, 450-foot, wobbly, swaying length of wooden slats and wire cable suspended 230 feet above rocks and shallow rapids.

His research team waited as unsuspecting men, between ages 18 and 35 and unaccompanied by women, crossed over. About halfway across the bridge, each man ran into an attractive young woman claiming to be doing research on beautiful places. She asked him a few questions and gave him her phone number in case he had follow-up questions.

The experiment was repeated upriver on a bridge that was wide and sturdy and only 10 feet above a small rivulet. The same attractive coed met the men, brandishing the same questionnaire.

The result? Men crossing the scary bridge rated the woman on the Capilano bridge more attractive. And about half the men who met her called her afterward. Only two of 16 men on the stable bridge called.

Fear got their attention and aroused emotional centers in the brain. "People are more likely to feel aroused in a scary setting," Aron says. "It's pretty simple. You're feeling physiologically aroused, and it's ambiguous why. Then you see an attractive person, and you think, 'Oh, that's why.' "

In a laboratory, Aron tested his arousal theory further by having people run in place for 10 minutes, and compared them with people who didn't run. Those who had exercised were more attracted to good-looking people in photographs than those who had been sedentary.

Any kind of physiological arousal would probably do the trick, Aron concludes from his studies. Couples who ride roller coasters, laugh at a really funny comedian or escape a burning building together get an emotional jolt and could attribute the feeling to the attractiveness of the other.


at the end

Quote:
The free fall of love's first rush can happen at any age, whether people are 20 or 70, says Elaine Hatfield, psychology professor at the University of Hawaii and relationship researcher.

What differs is that the older people get, the more memories they harbor of joy and trust, rejection and disappointment. And as people learn from experience, the front brain, with its logic and reason, probably gets a greater say.

"When you are young, passion and hope are so strong that's it's almost impossible to stop loving someone," Hatfield says. "After you've been kicked around by life, however, you start to have a dual response to handsome con men: 'Wow!' and 'Arrrrrrgh!'

"It takes not will power but painful experience to make us wise."

Somehow, it all comes together, for better or for worse, the sum total of what's found in the mating dance of the ancient reptilian brain, the passion of the limbic brain and the logic of the neocortex.

Oh, what a ride.
0 Replies
 
Lash
 
  1  
Reply Sat 4 Aug, 2007 01:17 pm
NY and I put the lumbering deathwatch out of it's misery. Parted really good friends. (That always makes me feel so much better.)

LOL

Planning December in NV.

LOL....<shakes head at self, smiling> <screams!!!!!>

I called my mother today...her third question: Which one are you with today?

<giggles>

NV says, "I think we have a good relationship. I love you, treat you like a lady and care about making you happy. That's pretty good stuff, isn't it, baby?"

Pretty good stuff... <giggles>

LOVE that article, ehBeth....thanks so much for bringing it!!
0 Replies
 
sozobe
 
  1  
Reply Sat 4 Aug, 2007 01:21 pm
I'll say it... I don't like NV.

I don't like "treat you like a lady," I don't like the fact that you seem to have to be someone other than yourself when you're with him. There's some kind of rescue/ bad boy thing going on that I think you need to move on from rather than indulge.

As long as you're not moving to be with him though, and just visiting, I guess the stakes aren't very high.

But every time he comes up I get kind of "grr." (While many others sound cool, and I'm pulling for you generally.)

(Does MY opinion matter? Not one whit. Just sayin'.)
0 Replies
 
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Sat 4 Aug, 2007 01:27 pm
Schniffs over NY...








Get some of the same uh, "I treat you like a lady" whimmers as Soz. But then you know NV and we don't.
0 Replies
 
Lash
 
  1  
Reply Sat 4 Aug, 2007 01:27 pm
Your opinion does matter, sweetheart. My son is in the No NV camp with you, and I quoted him because of the humor of the "treat you like a lady" line... Different worlds in that aspect...

But, yeah. Not moving....just sticking toe back in the water....<smiles>

Appreciative of your openness, soz. Very Happy
0 Replies
 
Lash
 
  1  
Reply Sat 4 Aug, 2007 01:52 pm
Making list of things to consider about NV

traditional gender expectations
( I do happen to like how some of this manifests)
(He knows I'm going to teach)
(I thought it was cute, being protected from the cars ...LOL)

I guess I shouldn't "wait on" him this time, and see what happens....
Wonder if he'll wait on me?

Feel free to add to he list...

He's never been angry with me---never been rude.

Passive Aggressive
I really hate this.
I have started calling him on it.
He's sweet about it.
I can tell it's sort of ingrained over time. Don't think it's going anywhere.

He's honest.
<smiles>

He's an epic procrastinator.

Will return to compile and colate....LOL

<sniffed over NY a bit myself, osso...thanks>
0 Replies
 
sozobe
 
  1  
Reply Sat 4 Aug, 2007 02:33 pm
Lash wrote:
I guess I shouldn't "wait on" him this time, and see what happens....


That sounds good...

"Treat you like a lady" isn't necessarily bad, but there's something about the way it interacts with the other things you've said. As in, it's funny/ sweet/ ironic if it's from a guy who's really open and generous and stuff, but this guy seems more take-y than give-y. And in that context, "treating you like a lady" has these connotations of keeping you in your place, having expectations that you ACT like a lady, and getting mad/ turned off if you don't. (I don't mean like in the bedroom, but showing him proper deference in public, etc.)

I dunno, as Osso says we don't know him and you do.
0 Replies
 
FreeDuck
 
  1  
Reply Mon 6 Aug, 2007 02:39 pm
I'm just going to reiterate my sweater metaphor. I think there's a door number 3 somewhere.
0 Replies
 
Lash
 
  1  
Reply Mon 6 Aug, 2007 02:48 pm
Hey chickie....I added you to messenger... Talk soon.... leaving the vicinity now, though...


And, I LIKE my Italian, Freeduck!!!!


lmao
0 Replies
 
 

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