Well.

Shit.

I'm so bitter on love and relationships I should probably just bite my tongue but I won't.

All I have to say is...well...Stace...right now as much as I think love sucks, I also think you are right.

Right about sex in non-involved relationships. I just really think that there has to be SOMETHING there. Something if sex is going to happen. How do you have sex and NOT have ANY emotions for that person. I think...I know...that couldn't be me.

I also have a hard time believing that there is one true love for everyone. I don't believe that. I believe people change and grow and fall in and out of love their entire lives. Marriage is a commitment that is not just about love. It is about so much more. Marriage is hard work and it takes two people to be equally concerned about themselves and their partner for life for a marriage to work.

A marriage is not about me, me, me it is about us, us, us and my hat goes off to you and Billy for being a shining example that marriages do last and people do work together and people do make mistakes and people do apologize for them and people do accept apologies and people do laugh together and get lattes together and learn from their day and adjust so tomorrow is better than today...damn...

stace.

this was arfing therapeutic.

thanks.

i'd be interested in what people who have orthodox religious backing (judeo-christian?) feel about one true love. i know for many of my friends a marriage is not only about man -- woman, but it involves their higher power as well. in effect they aren't marrying into families, but into religions as well. for the devout, ALL action in the relationship is based on that.

how does the pious [wo]man differ about this topic than myself, for example?

are you saying i'm ot a pious wo-man, mark?

well, you're not orthodox, are you?

Stacey, I agree with you. I don't believe in one true love and I think the Hunter and I could have been just as happy with others. That doesn't mean I don't love him and am glad we're together. The flip side is that even though he and I have our problems, so would we have problems with others we were with if we hadn't met up. He's my one and only, but we didn't wait for the wedding, we didn't even wait until we knew there was going to BE a wedding, but we sure waited until we knew we were something special to each other. He had a little more previous experience than I did, but it was in another caring relationship, and I think that made a difference in how we dealt with each other. Sex is so much more than sex. STDs, kids, if you have sex without caring you can find yourself in some bad positions, and often it's the kids who pay. Just my $.02.

tw: you bring up an interesting point -- and i hope i didn't leave the wrong impression. i hope you don't think i'm saying sex outside of MARRIAGE is bullshit. that kind of weirds me out even just typing it. you put it really nicely, tw, "but we sure waited until we knew we were something special to each other."

i love all of your two cents, people!

No Stacey, I didn't read it like that. I thought you were saying just what I did.

You and Bill are truly blessed.

"loving someone is hard. i’m not talking about loving as in how you feel – i’m talking about loving as in what you DO."

Perfectly said. I wish a couple of people in my past would have understood that concept.