– Chapter 1) I walk down the street.
\nThere is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost… I am hopeless.
\nIt isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.<\/p>\n
– Chapter 2) I walk down the same street.
\nThere is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again.
\nI can’t believe I’m in the same place. But it isn’t my fault. It takes forever to get out.<\/p>\n
– Chapter 3) I walk down the same street.
\nThere is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in — it’s a habit. But my eyes are open and I know where I am. It is my fault and I get right out.<\/p>\n
– Chapter 4) I walk down the same street.
\nThere is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.<\/p>\n
– Chapter 5) I walk down another street.<\/p>\n
– An Autobiography in five chapters by Portia Nelson
\n– See Also, Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett<\/p>\n
So we meet, the spark ignites, we play, we dance, we make love and everything changes. All of a sudden we\u2019re in (Capital R) Relationship. We\u2019re now girlfriend\/boyfriend (or whatever we choose to call it, as you are not a \u201cgirl\u201d nor am I a \u201cboy.\u201d)<\/p>\n
At the twist of a passage we\u2019ve slipped into completely new roles. I am no longer the hungry bachelor nor you the caretaker without a charge. We are a \u201cCouple\u201d and our well trodden path is clearly defined; injected into our I\u2019s by the notorious tube.<\/p>\n
Whether we choose Lucy and Ricky, Fred and Ginger, Fred and Wilma, Homer and Marge, Archie and Edith, or some other iconic pair — we know exactly what to do. We know what the rules are, exactly how to play, and what to expect.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll meet other couples and do the \u201cyou and I show\u201d to let them know what flavor of coupleship we\u2019ve chosen. I\u2019ll bring you flowers, you\u2019ll cook me dinner. I\u2019ll buy you jewelry, you\u2019ll clean my house. Eventually, I may bring you a shiny pebble and make a promise that almost nobody ever keeps.<\/p>\n
Is it possible to have a (little \u201cr\u201d) relationship so firmly rooted in (big \u201cR\u201d) Reality that it bypasses expectation? Can the fantasy be set aside? What would this kind of relationship be like?<\/p>\n
The primary commitment would need to be to \u201cHonesty.\u201d If I lie to you \u2013 if I tell you that cards can dance and cats disappear \u2013 and you believe me — then I have whisked you off to Wonderland. You are no longer in the same dimension as I and we cannot possibly be together.<\/p>\n
Expectations: Expect nothing, Appreciate everything.<\/p>\n
Pain: There will times of pain, loneliness, regret, anger, jealousy \u2013 this relationship is not an escape from human emotion; just a container.<\/p>\n
Forgiveness: Of course we\u2019ll screw up! I\u2019ll forget your birthday and you\u2019ll feel unloved. You\u2019ll rearrange my desk until you think it\u2019s \u2018just right\u2019 and I\u2019ll freak out. Forgiveness will hop in it\u2019s two-wheeled hyster-i-cycle and stop by.<\/p>\n
The One: Am I, are you, THE ONE?\u00a0 Perhaps we\u2019re all looking for someone to grow old with. Is that us? Perhaps. Maybe we\u2019ll figure this out after a few years. There\u2019s time. There\u2019s always time, even if it\u2019s just a few endless moments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
– Chapter 1) I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost… I am hopeless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out. – Chapter 2) I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markcrobinson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/120"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markcrobinson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markcrobinson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markcrobinson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markcrobinson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/markcrobinson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123,"href":"https:\/\/markcrobinson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/120\/revisions\/123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markcrobinson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markcrobinson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markcrobinson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}