Hi Lola, this isn't a screed against you, just prompted by your post.
<RANT> ARGH!! I hate that word. Dating. Hate it hate it hate it. It's so, loaded.
It appears to me that somewhere there has grown up this presumption that men and women must have exclusivity all the time and that people must move from one LTR to another.
Why?
Why can't someone leave a LTR and then instead of hopping into another LTR, spend their days enjoying the company of a multitude of friends, some with benefits and some without, some that like the theater and some that prefer the lake?
Why is it that after leaving a LTR, the presumption exists that we should spend time by ourselves? Is loneliness somehow beneficial?
Lest anyone think that I'm insane, I do understand that some people leave LTR with baggage and enter into new relationships without dealing with that baggage. Is this the default behavior? I don't know. Maybe I'm naive, since this is an area in which I have no experience. </RANT>
