Goodbye, my almost lover

Goodbye, my almost lover

Goodbye, my hopeless dream

I'm trying not to think about you

Can't you just let me be?

So long, my luckless romance

My back is turned on you

Should've known you'd bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do

I cannot go to the ocean

I cannot drive the streets at night

I cannot wake up in the morning

Without you on my mind

So you're gone and I'm haunted

And I bet you are just fine

Did I make it that

Easy to walk right in and out

Of my life?

This song is the first on this great break up/rainy day album that Violet made me a few years ago with the recommendation that it be taken with a pint of ice cream. The album was probably in regular rotation in my car CD player for over a year. Last week I rediscovered why I love it so much. I've never really had my heart broken before and I have a new found respect for Violet's masterpiece.

Last week I finally talked to MM and officially ended whatever we were. I had asked him if he was avoiding me the previous week when he told me that he was busy playing video games. He said no and acted like it was no big deal, after talking practically everyday for 5 months, that he would go a week without talking to me. This really stung. Was this really so easy for him? I had been fighting the urge to text or call him all week. Meanwhile he was playing video games?

When it became apparent that MM was not going to address the elephant in the room and thought that we could just instantly go from dating to friends with no discussion, I decided that something needed to be said. I needed closure. All along MM had told me that above all else he valued my friendship and he didn't want us dating to ruin that. So when I talked to MM, I told him that if he really wanted to be friends with me, then he needed to stop being an ass and doing what was easiest for him. MM said that he was sorry and that he had avoided the situation because he didn't know what to say and he was scared. We talked about it some more and I got some of the answers that I needed. We agreed that we wouldn't talk or see each other for awhile. While it was upsetting to talk about it and relive the disappointment and rejection, it was what I really needed to begin the slow process of moving on.

At least that is what I thought. This weekend I went back on match.com and perused my options. I even updated my profile that I've had hidden for months. But I left it hidden. Even though I was trying to think of the prospect of dating other guys, I'm simply not ready to put myself out there again. I'm trying not to think about MM. This is easier said than done. During the day I stay busy, but at night I'm fighting a losing battle. MM is in my dreams. Sometimes I dream of him ending things and relive the crushing disappointment in my sleep. Other times I'm out with other guys and they just don't measure up to MM. They are boring or the chemistry just isn't there. Perhaps the most damaging, I dream that MM changed his mind and wants to try to make things work, only to awake disappointed, knowing that this isn't going to happen.

So my question for you, does this get any easier? When can I expect the dreams to end? When will I stop comparing other guys to MM only to find that they come up lacking? How long before there comes a day that I don't wake up in the morning with MM on my mind?

Lloyd, I'm ready to be heartbroken

It's over....

For some time now I've known (and you've known) that it was just a matter of time before things with MM would end. Before he left for his business trip, it was fun. Even though I wasn't always happy with where things were going, I always laughed and had a good time when I was with him. The relationship hadn't fully run it's course. I felt like I needed to see it through to the end. (I mean you don't stop reading a good book three fourths of the way though, right?) On top of that, with how awful my job has been, I needed MM. We had become codependent, much like Violet and I. When I was having a bad day at work, I could text or email him and he would be supportive and cheer me up.

Well, after talking consistently while he was gone, MM returned from his business trip last week. I knew from the tone of his emails over the last few weeks, things weren't going to be the same when he returned. We hung out and conversation was easy and pretty much the same as always. Despite this everything was all wrong. We couldn't return to the carefree summer months anymore than I could turn off my feelings. I had missed him so much over the month and a half that he was gone. I wanted to cuddle. I wanted a distraction from my issues at work. I wanted some action and I could tell I wasn't going to get it.

After this I started trying to wean myself off of him somewhat. I wasn't going to be a needy girl. I saw him one more time last Sunday. We went to the movies and dinner. The movie was awful. It seemed even more strained than the last time. I think I needed this to really start letting go and move on. He kissed me goodnight, but it wasn't a passionate kiss. More out of habit than anything else. If I had to sum it up in one word, it would be disinterested.

I really thought that I'd accepted that the end was here but, after a gut wrenching bout of food poisoning, here I sit feeling sorry for myself because I have no plans this weekend and I haven't heard from MM since Sunday. I'm listening to "Lloyd, I'm ready to be heartbroken" by Camera Obscura and thinking "Is anyone ever REALLY ready to be heartbroken?" I really miss what MM and I had. I miss how easy it was to be with him. I miss our friendship. I scanned the online dating websites and didn't see anyone that I was even vaguely interested in. I'm honestly terrified that it will be years before I find someone that I'm into as much as I was into MM.

Of course itunes conveniently followed that song up with Carly Simons' version of "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning." You may remember it from Sleepless in Seattle.

When your lonely heart has learned its lesson

You'd be his if only he'd call

In the wee small hours of the morning

That's the time you miss him most of all

At least Carrie Underwood cut me a break with the next song "The More Boys I meet the more I love my dog." I couldn't agree more. So tomorrow I'll pick myself up, brush myself off, and take my dog for a long rejuvenating walk at the park. Maybe she will pick up a hot guy for me?

Yes Virginia, Love really IS a battlefield

Pat Benatar was a genius. Love really is a battlefield. It's chaotic. It's full of rash decisions that you're positive are right a the time, but you can never really assess the damage until all the dust has settled. And it can surprise you, just like an ambush.

We are young, heartache to heartache we stand
No promises, no demands
Love is a battlefield
We are strong, no one can tell us were wrong
Searchin our hearts for so long,
both of us knowing...Love is a battlefield

The other night I went to a baseball game with McNerdy. I hadn't seen him in ages, and John Boy is out of the country. When I got back, Scarlet asked me how the game, and McNerdy, was. I responded with, "I realized that McNerdy is not nearly as much fun as John Boy." Scarlet laughed and told me there was a time she never would have guessed she would hear something like that from me.

I agree. There was a time when I thought McNerdy was the cat's pajamas. He and I were as close as you could get to a guarantee. It was really only a matter of time. He didn't seem all that comfortable with an actual relationship, but I was convinced I was the one who would change all that. But he kept stringing me along until I couldn't figure out if we were in fact just friends. People asked what was going on with us, and I would answer that I had no idea.

You're beggin me to go, you're makin me stay
Why do you hurt me so bad?
It would help me to know
Do I stand in your way, or am I the best thing you've had?

Not really a good sign when you're one of the people involved. Eventually, he realized he better make a move or lose my devotion, so he did, then continue to string me along without telling me what was going on, until he finally socked me in the gut with a big fat dose of reality. Even after he ripped my heart out and stomped on it a few times, I still couldn't figure out what went wrong with such a seemingly sure thing.

Of course hindsight is 20/20, and now I realize that McNerdy had a big fat stick up his ass (and while it's loosened up a bit, it's still up there). And while he is still a good friend (I am apparently a more forgiving person than I thought I could be), I realized the other night that I would much rather be hanging out with John Boy- and not just because of the benefits that come later. McNerdy wouldn't hold my stack of All-Star ballots, lining them up for me so I could punch out five at a time, and John Boy wouldn't roll his eyes at me for doing so. Last week John Boy really, really wanted me to come out to his place to hang out and grill with some of his friends. And while I initially scoffed at driving an entire hour out of the city (how quickly I've become a city snob), I was happy to go, and had an excellent time. Then I realized that in the year that was McNerdy's and my imaginary relationship, he never once invited me onto his turf. Of course, I noticed this at the time, but I brushed it off. We were a sure thing, you know.

Once of the things that convinced me that McNerdy was so perfect, was that he was exactly my type. As the name would imply, he was the perfect dose of nerd. On the skinny side, glasses, well-read, prefers staying in with a friend over going out. As much as McNerdy is my type, John Boy is not. He's big and burly, and likes his beer. I can barely tell you what color his hair is, because I've seen him without a baseball cap once, (and that was in my room; it was dark...) and he has tattoos! Three of them! Which I refuse to let him show me. He voted for George W. Bush (gah!), but then rectified that by voting for Obama last year. And as I discovered last week when I couldn't breathe, he easily outweighs every guy I've ever been, er, horizontal with by at least 50 pounds. But when I say jump, he asks "how far?" and has emailed me pretty much every day from the tropical beach he's been hanging out on (and did I mention that he told me I should accompany him and his friends multiple times? My bank account didn't really allow for it.) And not only is he not intimidated by my sporty prowess, he took me to the driving range and I believe was a bit turned on by my natural affinity for a 9-iron. (Had our dad been a pushy sports parent, Grayer and I would be the Williams sisters of golf, I swear.)

But all of this really doesn't matter, since he will be making himself geographically unavailable in just a few weeks. I remember when I was a bit relieved when he told me this; I needed an easy out. "Be careful what you wish for" is a cliche' for a reason. As Scarlet pointed out, I'm going to need a distraction when he's gone, so I'm dragging myself out to meet The Highlander tomorrow for ice cream.

No promises, no demands...Love is a battlefield.

Billion Year Old Broken Heart Club

Oh heartbreak... What a terrible and restless feeling. Like trying to reach the shallow end of a monster community pool, where you know the bottom will be within big toe reach any second now but the nervous desperate exhaustion scares the pee out of you and the only option is to keep paddling and glance towards the unfocused life guard. It's that feeling- that nervous desperate exhaustion- that characterizes me these days. I can't shake it. I want something completely unobtainable, something I know I should ignore and forget about. Terribly enough, I often view myself as unworthy and easily forgotten- but I know this is a fabrication of my depression during my positive moments.

So what do I do? Is this just a phase I need to work through, like unemployment or finals week? Will my desperation go away? Will I ever stop staring at my phone from 10-10:30 pm- looking at past text messages and willing a phone call?

I'm trying the overworking plan, two jobs and mega hours. It works during the day. I'm also trying the over-exercising under-eating plan, that at least makes me feel sexy which leads me to wonder if he would think I looked good. I've even tried break-up shopping. I'm drinking and partying more as well. Next I think I'll of moving into heavy drugs or adrenaline pumping behaviors. I'll wait on that though, they cost money and are quite dangerous.

When did this desperate reaction start? Could I now be a part of the billion year old broken heart club? If so, what did cave women and monkeys do when their man said he needed space and didn't want to be their caveman or monkeyman anymore? Are their any hieroglyphics that tell the secret to a broken heart? Could there be a natural remedy from the Native Americans we have yet to tap into? Maybe the vikings have some vicious tradition against such sad times.

What do we ladies do now? I hate gritting my teeth and dealing. Who wants patience in a time like this. I need immediate gratification with long term effects (positive effects please). What options do we have other than promiscuous rebound dating and ignoring the situation all together and playing imaginary girlfriend to an absent boy?

Feel free to comment and suggest. I need all the ugly and sarcastic help I can get.