Sharon and I
"Longing becomes more poignant if in the distance you can't tell whether your lover is going away or coming back."
-Rumi
I used to think that it was ironic that I understood the erotic metaphors which many great mystical poets were so fond of in reverse. That is, I understood the bliss of union and the pain of separation, the two states which such metaphors are used to describe, in terms of union with and separation from God first, and from that I could imagine such states in romantic love.
When I experienced romantic love for the first time, I thought I knew these states fully, despite the fact that the feelings weren't mutual, and no relationship came of the love. Early on in my relationship with Sharon, I have come to understand that my knowledge of the bliss of union had up until that point been immature. We grew closer than I had ever imagined was possible, shattering the barriers of what I thought was possible. Nothing changed, however, about my understanding of the pain of separation. It remained in its immature state while my understanding of the bliss of union blossomed.
Well, that's changed now. Sharon and I have been talking for about the past month about some of the problems in our relationship, their causes, and their possible solutions. It seems in fact, that there was only one possible solution: we needed to break up. Not because we don't want to be together, and not because our relationship is irreparable. In fact, we both agree that there is nothing inherently wrong with our relationship. Rather, there are personal problems, symptoms of which are surfacing in our relationship.
For those of you who don't know, Sharon has only been single for about three weeks of the past six years. She has known since very early in this period that she needed to be single for some time, for her own good, but has never had the strength to. In fact, she was even aware of this while she was engaged to her first boyfriend.
Well, Sharon is strong enough now, and thus, we agreed that last night was to be the last night we would spend together as lovers.
We are not just taking a break from each other, a temporary thing with some sort of set duration. We are completely broken up, with no more commitments to each other. The only thing that we can say is that we both hope to get back together, some day. That doesn't mean we will, though -- we simply want to.
Please don't worry about trying to avoid situations with us being together, like when inviting us to parties and such. In fact, we are still both going to Ziggy's graduation party. We will continue to be very close friends, and we will not be trying to avoid each otherat all. I don't know about her, but I'm not even that sad, although it may hit me later. Right now, I'm only happy for the beauty of the time we had together.
By the way, Kirk, this means I'm not bringing my queen size bed to Demarest.
-Rumi
I used to think that it was ironic that I understood the erotic metaphors which many great mystical poets were so fond of in reverse. That is, I understood the bliss of union and the pain of separation, the two states which such metaphors are used to describe, in terms of union with and separation from God first, and from that I could imagine such states in romantic love.
When I experienced romantic love for the first time, I thought I knew these states fully, despite the fact that the feelings weren't mutual, and no relationship came of the love. Early on in my relationship with Sharon, I have come to understand that my knowledge of the bliss of union had up until that point been immature. We grew closer than I had ever imagined was possible, shattering the barriers of what I thought was possible. Nothing changed, however, about my understanding of the pain of separation. It remained in its immature state while my understanding of the bliss of union blossomed.
Well, that's changed now. Sharon and I have been talking for about the past month about some of the problems in our relationship, their causes, and their possible solutions. It seems in fact, that there was only one possible solution: we needed to break up. Not because we don't want to be together, and not because our relationship is irreparable. In fact, we both agree that there is nothing inherently wrong with our relationship. Rather, there are personal problems, symptoms of which are surfacing in our relationship.
For those of you who don't know, Sharon has only been single for about three weeks of the past six years. She has known since very early in this period that she needed to be single for some time, for her own good, but has never had the strength to. In fact, she was even aware of this while she was engaged to her first boyfriend.
Well, Sharon is strong enough now, and thus, we agreed that last night was to be the last night we would spend together as lovers.
We are not just taking a break from each other, a temporary thing with some sort of set duration. We are completely broken up, with no more commitments to each other. The only thing that we can say is that we both hope to get back together, some day. That doesn't mean we will, though -- we simply want to.
Please don't worry about trying to avoid situations with us being together, like when inviting us to parties and such. In fact, we are still both going to Ziggy's graduation party. We will continue to be very close friends, and we will not be trying to avoid each otherat all. I don't know about her, but I'm not even that sad, although it may hit me later. Right now, I'm only happy for the beauty of the time we had together.
By the way, Kirk, this means I'm not bringing my queen size bed to Demarest.