Relationships, Sort Of.

Here's a fact about relationships that never ceases to surprise me: they can be hard. Every time I run into some difficulty or the other with a close friend or loved one, which is beyond inevitable, I'm taken aback. I can't believe that there is a problem. It isn't supposed to be this way. Things are supposed to be easy. For me, anyway. I'm not really interested in how they are for anyone else.


I see this all the time with couples who are just married. Ah, the early relationship stages: lots of sex and spending huge amounts of time with your soul mate and no arguments and all the new and quirky things about your lover which will become your worst nightmare down the road, sooner than you think. I don't know anyone who thought that marriage would require work, on-going negotiation, and the occasional compromise. I sure didn't, as a committed member of the Head Up My Ass club.

I was at a meeting this week with my buddy Joe Mayo. He's in a newish relationship. He leaned over and asked:

"You met SuperK in The Program, right?"

"Yep."

"Did you ever have problems early on in the relationship?"

"(Unprintable), yes."


He laughed, sort of.



I waited a couple of beats, then grabbed him by the neck, pulled him in close, and whispered:

"That's the (unprintable unprintable) question that (unprintable) you have ever asked me, you (unprintable)."



"I'm glad you're my friend," he replied. "What would I do without you?"

"Tell me about it," I said.