I met a girl

No... not in that way.... sorry to disappoint.

I firmly believe in the saying "People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime."

I met Shannon at a friend's party a couple of months back, and we just clicked from the beginning. I'm certain alcohol played a big factor in allowing me to feel comfortable enough to go back to her place along with her gay male friend, but that's beside the point.

The following weekend, she invited me out to celebrate her friend's birthday, and from that point on, we hung out every single weekend.

The kicker here though is that she was moving to NYC in December, so I made sure to exploit every outing to the maximum. We went to bars, clubs, restaurants, even BINGO out of all places and had a blast each time. We stayed in, got drunk on cheap vodka, dressed up to go out and made memories captured on film for our 3-day Halloween weekend.

During this time, I didn't even even bother to do any dating- I simply wasn't interested in giving up my girl-time for a guy. Time was limited and critical.

And this was when I realized that I didn't need to have a guy in my life to make me happy; as long as I had a strong group of friends, I was happy with that, and was sure to have fun. She came into my life for a reason, and that was to get me out of my dark, depressed moments. I can honestly say that this season was by far the easiest and funnest I've had in a VERY LONG TIME. And even though she moved away, I feel like she will remain in my heart and memories a lifetime.

Nerds.

Losing a friend

It happens every so often; you gain a friend, you lose a friend, but I've always found frienship breakups to be somewhat awkward. Is it just as easy to walk away?

I "met" Wes on a POF (single's website) almost two years ago, when I began my foray into the dating scene. He was the first person I spoke to, and because of that, developed an attachment to him. However, we never actually met in person; he was too different for me: too rough, vulgar and different from what I physically liked. I hardly talked to him during the year, and we'd reconnect every once in a while for a few weeks, and trail apart soon after. We just didn't have anything in common.

During the summer, we began talking again as I found myself single and openly searching for my next challenge. I soon found out however that he had moved away to Minnesota and was currently undergoing a harsh breakup with a girl he loved. Somewhere along the way, he finally called me and we spoke on the phone for the very first time. It was an instant connection we shared, one based on friendship.

Over the months, we talked online more often, but never on the phone. He had started school again and kept himself very occupied but always found the time to talk to me. We vaguely touched on each other's feelings, but he made it an open promise to meet up when he came back to Houston.

On Christmas Eve, Wes messaged me on Aim saying he needed to talk to someone. He'd been agonizing over the death of his brother 9 years back and couldn't stop blaming himself for what had happened. His brother was in the USMC and was killed in Iraq. He opened up about losing over 35 people in the last 8 years and couldn't bring himself to lose any more, hence why he'd kept me at such a distance all this time.

"I'd rather not know then know and lose [someone]" he said.

I could tell he was hurting, and I tried so hard to help, but I couldn't possibly fathom what he'd experienced. I couldn't put myself in his place. The more I tried, the more he pushed me away, telling me to walk away while I still could. He said he couldn't be helped, and that ever since he'd been out of the military himself, couldn't stop dwelling on his losses and fighting his own demons.

So I cracked. I gave up.

Ren: You want me to walk away from you?
Wes: It'd be best for you to be honest.
Ren: I'm hurt. But if you want me to do that for you,
Wes: Doesn't matter about me Ren....
Ren: There's not much else I can do
Wes: Save yourself while you can.

I felt a lump in my throat, rejected, and my heart actually hurt from losing someone again, even if it wasn't romantic. I shed a few tears, and thought hard about the decision I'd made.

I feel that perhaps I gave up too easily; maybe the alcohol got to him, and he was talking nonsense. Either way, I deleted him from Facebook and Aim as well that night and we haven't spoken since then.

Did I do the right thing?

Year's End

It has been... hold on let me check.... over a month since I last wrote anything at all. I've been busy with "other things" such as work, school, and work. Not much dating has been going, and my temper and patience are starting to wear out thin.

I recently went on a 2-week vacation to South America (which I will comment on in a future post) and I am still HAppiLy SINGle. Yes, believe the "sarcasm"- I am actually happy to be single.

I want to get through finals (tomorrow) before I can update on things that I've been doing in the meantime.

I will you see you all shortly.

-Ren