Squishy friends

I always loved Gloria Steinem's "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." I found with one exception, that whenever I was in a relationship the quality of my life went down with the exception of the 11 years with a lovely Swiss gentlemen, but that worked because we lived in different cantons and saw each other SOME weekends.

I also admit when ever I saw a couple in a bad relationship, I thought "Thank God, it isn't me." And when I saw a happy couple in a good working relationship, I thought, "I'm glad they're happy and thank God it isn't me." I loved my life as a single. I loved living in two countries. I loved living alone in one and sharing a home with a widow and sometimes her son in the other. My life was as close to perfect as it is possible to get.

Thus when a man, whom I'd met 34 years before, reappeared, I wasn't prepared. Despite a strong attraction back then circumstances were not right. We were friends then drifted apart.

However, this time, there was a cascade of emotions. Different countries made the distance seem safe but 10 days together kinda wiped out that safety zone.

I expected my friends to talk sense into me. What happened. They went all squishy on me.

One said, "Good, I can buy a hat for the wedding?" even though I had never mentioned marriage.

Another, seeing us enter a jewelry store, rushed in hoping we were shopping for diamond. We weren't. It was chain to go with the beautiful pendant that had our combined birth stones that he gave me. Yes, he is a romantic. She keeps asking if she can be my bridesmaid.

Then my housemate asks me to Skype him. When he answers she tells him "We're all routing for you. Even my sister in California is." Then she looked at me. "Donna-Lane is blushing. I've never seen her blush."

Likewise a friend in Argeles who was positive she wouldn't like him, thinks he's great.

Come to think of it, he is great. We are meeting up in a third country next week to see where he might live and work so we can spend more time together.

Trite as the cliché is, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." He's laughing but so am I.