This is a happy and sad post at the same time. The other night, I went to a meetup with a friend. Tonight, I found out that the hostess of this group is leaving in October. One less group in the Hudson Valley that I want to go to. I'll have to give my ex-girlfriend credit - she chose to keep me out of the one group that survived Covid using methods that I consider unethical. But then, she's very afraid of dealing with her feelings if she were to see me in person again.
But I don't want to dwell on the past - only reference it.
Now that the worst of the pandemic seems to be over, people are starting to attend meetup groups in person again. This is a good thing. There is a new group that I might choose to attend soon. It'll be much better for me to go there than to schlep into Connecticut. And yet, I'm not planning on filling my calendar with meetups. I don't want to get addicted to going out. Instead, I want to start nourishing my soul again, visiting museums (for one thing) without worrying about whether I'd be missing out on human connections.
Lately, I've been seeing a lady (as Mario) that knows of my existence as Marian, and hasn't yet run away from me. No, I don't think we'll be a couple for the long term. But I'm working on developing a relationship (as friends) that will survive the end of dating. The other day, I read an article (Most romantic relationships start as friendships, study finds) on CNN's website. I want to date the kind of person who I'd want to have as a friend first, and not the kind of person I'd get bored with quickly, and this article helped me understand why I do so. There are other women I'm chatting with that I have yet to meet. And I'm holding out some hope that one of them may like the overall package I'm offering when the time comes to see them....
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/20/health/romantic-relationships-start-as-friends-wellness/index.html