July 10, 2005 - 4:01 p.m. In matters of love, we hurl ourselves headlong into another person. We find that we discover that we are only really happy when we are basking in the glow of that other person's presence. We tend to consider that we were never really complete before now and we take for granted that our bliss will continue indefinitely. Yet stopping to consider that these things end casts a cynical light over the present. If we consider that any relationship might end, then our instinct is to pull away--or at least not slip any further--to lessen or avoid the pain that comes when one or the other takes a razor blade to that hip at which you two are attached. It makes us wonder if your late love wasn't just a waste of time. Following this line of thinking makes one wonder whether we should ever be in any relationship if it has the potential to end. This is unsatisfying, and ultimately becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in which we try to protect ourselves from the pain of a relationship's death and thereby shorten its life. Is it bad to invest everything in a relationship? Doesn't love require that we bet everything we have on something that isn't really ours to begin with? Aren't we given certain Divine signals regarding the rightness of the path we are choosing? Basically, need we protect ourselves from a day when we might discover that we are not happy when in that particular person's presence? This really has nothing to do with the specifics of my life, so please don't get all excited. Just a consideration for the future. ...before & after...