It's a Rainy Day in Tampa

It's a rainy day in Tampa and those are rare and annoying. It's one thing to be full of sweat all day but it's quite another to be rained on. Even the dog is wet and there aren't many things that I dislike as much as I dislike a wet, hairy, lap dog that wants to cuddle.

I do miss cuddling in general though. I miss a lot of things that go alone with being in love, from the staring into each other's eyes to the fantasizing about your love when they're not near you. I miss having someone to relax with and be ourselves while we smile, giggle and break out in that uncontrollable laugh that has tears running down your face. I can do without all of that, I have for years. But a friend would really fill up some of the emptiness of life after being isolated from most of the people about whom I care.

If you're lucky enough to have a friend, make sure you stop and smell that rose every chance you get. And, as many other women can testify, never, ever, under any circumstances (well, maybe not if you marry a future king of England) distance yourself from your friends when you enter into a romantic relationship. Don't distance yourself in any way, not by time, distance nor by lack of communication. You might be tempted to spend all your time with your new love, but remember this...at some point you might want to get together with your buddies to do something which would be inappropriate to do with an escort. Your friends might want to have a girls night out (or a boys night out) and if you've been avoiding friends in favor of your new love, he or she will take that as a step down in your relationship that they don't understand. Especailly if you're with a controlling person, they will try to monoploze your time and the more you let them, the more control they feel that they have over you. You might not even realize it when you're in the throes of the honeymoon phase of your relationship, but think about what's happening. Even a nice guy might see a sudden desire to go out with your friends as an issue so don't allow anyone to put any unreasonable dents in your social life.

There's an old saying that, even at my age, holds true for everyone...no matter how much you think you are immune, no one is immune to the fact that:

"A steady guy is here today, a steady friend is here to stay."

Of course, you can adjust the genders involved but the point is the same. When I think of all the decent guys and friends that I blew off out of loyalty to a disloyal husband, I wanna be sick.