Okay, since you asked,  I'm unfriending you because we have nothing in common, and I marvel that you don't see it.

You talk about money and things all the time -- a handbag by some designer I never heard of that cost, on sale, my entire weekly salary, or a new sofa for your family room that already has two sofas in it, and while we're on the subject, I come from a family that never had a "family…

My first wife had this habit of telling me her dreams right when she woke up, no matter how indifferent I was and no matter how brusquely I said, “Look, your damn dreams are of no interest to anyone but yourself.”

Dear God, the woman would go on and ON, retelling those long circuitous plots, most of which were incoherent, until eventually she would wind down and end with a hiccup.…

She had a voice like flowers bloom: soft and unassuming until you noticed it, and then suddenly you couldn’t bear the idea of ever leaving it behind. Her momma said it was always that way. Even as a little thing, the cries she made sounded more like an apology than a complaint, like she felt downright awful for requiring your time. It came as no surprise why a boy like that took an interest in a girl like her, but I always wondered why she took a shine to him. There…

Entering his home at the end of the day should have been the long-awaited beginning of a relaxing evening; instead, it was always more like the opening bell of a heavyweight title bout whose rules varied from one night to the next.  It was no surprise, then, that he stopped at the neighborhood grocery store on the way home after “remembering” that he had drunk the last of the milk that morning.

This trip to the store was no different from countless others – a mindless salutation to…

“Do you love her”? Leah asked.

I got out of the bed and walked across to the bathroom “who”?

“Kara”, Leah Replied “she is your girlfriend isn’t she? Proping herself up with a pillow against the headboard.

“Don’t bother to reply I already have your answer”.

I carried on washing my face as though Leah had not spoken. I hated these moments, earlier it didn’t seem to be a problem.

“when you said,”who?” she persisted.

“Do you know what the temperature’s going to be like tomorrow, because I was thinking I should probably wear a skirt to look semi-presentable since it’s going to be a big family function?”

“Think it’s supposed to be warm, probably 90’s, which I assume means you’ll be decked out in something wildly inappropriate…

 I get up from my desk, grab my jacket, and head for the door as Esmeralda shrieking with laughter enters with Cobra who says, ‘Charlie, what’s wrong?’

 A perfume wafts in along with them and there is a confirmation of blood and bone as we jostle together and I get a stench of muskrat and urine from the dust of something that died in terror, cornered and trapped, in that touching of bodies and I pass by or through them without a word; out through reception, away from the building…

Dressed in primary colors and a yellow head band, she was the first to venture out of their tidy bungalow and stand in the patchy yard .

He came outdoors some days later wearing mismatched plaids and a ball cap with the Expos insignia, and they held hands in a shy kind of way. …

I stood there, in his tiny bathroom, staring at myself in the mirror and heavily debating whether to stay or go, and “go” meant walk 45 minutes home.  The time was after 3 AM, and we’d spent the last hour or so talking about – what else – us.  Our situation wasn’t like others I had come to be comfortably familiar with during my life, having only recently met via profiles on a dating site and made a surprisingly amazing connection, and…well, I sorta liked him.

He told me all…

I. 

Summer looms with its ferocious heat that feels more like weight than temperature, and you become listless. You say you want to leave ahead of  the season, want to go to the north Atlantic coast or Appalachians -- anywhere cooler. You watch me clandestinely to see if I am upset by your impending absence.…

So when did we or have we actually crossed the line?

Was it when we first spoke and started flirting? Or as the conversation became more personnel, hopes, dreams and disappointments over the years?…

This latest rejection for some reason made me think of an ex girlfriend Justine, her parents hated me so much she had tell them we were just “friends” which made me much…

..............................................

We nag because we have valid grievances. Yet it does not follow that the people whom we harry will be grateful; they will become defensive, angry and irritated. Nagging is disrespectful and negative and therefore, automatically unhealthy for the mind, heart, soul and body. It sours relationships.

Badgering our children to do what (we think) is right is not a clause in the job description for mothers – but discussion…

I met him during a cold spring, when the winter refused to lesson it's hold, dumping snow in final storms from swollen clouds.

We became fast friends, an instant connection, enhanced by mutual attraction, causing sparks to fly and under currents of lust and desire.

The tension was nice, tight, and everyone around us picked up on it, causing smiles and good moods, topped off with playful teasing.

I took a piece of him when he was not looking, I…