Limitations

For the last few years—since my last marriage started falling apart completely—I have been in relationships with a few women.

For some definition of 'few' that is between six and a dozen.

All of those relationships had something in common: they were limited in what I could expect, and how I could imagine they would end. Consciously or unconsciously I chose to get involved with women who were not fully available to explore how deep the relationship could go (whether it was because they were married or lived far away, or because they ran a business that took 25 hours per day).

Each one was ready for a limited relationship, and that's what I wanted. After all, I get to be the fun one, then. I could go out on dates and still have plenty of alone time.

Over the last month something odd happened, though. I realized some important things about one of my relationships:

• I wanted more than a "limited" relationship. I wanted to see exactly how well we could connect, whether the relationship could handle daily contact.
• It was actually possible. The situational limitation that was apparent at the beginning could be changed.

It was as if I was finally ready, and it popped up.

That's weird—I'll take it. Onward to adventure?