forever my friend

SO. i have this coworker that i just thoroughly enjoy discoursing with as often as i can. we have certain commonalities but the manifestations of such are so polarized that it's almost comically fascinating.

we, again, were discussing the topic of marriage. he is a committed bachelor, staunchly opposed to ever getting married and determined to never have children. while i understand why certain people have no desire to get "married" and can empathize with those that do not desire children, what i cannot comprehend is the absolute absence of any want for a forever companion. he doesn't believe that relationships are meant to last forever. he says it's unnatural. i argued that he was confusing natural with simple, that i believe it is natural for us to be drawn to partner with another but the sustaining of the relationship is most certainly not simple.

he also reasons that he just exceptionally enjoys his freedom. the practice of having to consider another person in any decision, big or small, is a greater hassle than it is worth. and i admit, i understand and agree with that assessment but i guess i see things differently. i purposefully live sans roommates because i really despise having to live with others that have different priorities than i do. i also only want certain things known by certain people. there is a very small, and by small i mean infinitesimal, group of people that really, truly, honestly, know me. and even some of those that i would count as my closest friends are, at times, surprised by the things i say and do. i attribute this to the fact that i am on an ever-quest of self-evolution. i do not believe we ever truly reach perfection but i do not believe this should halt us in our attempts to improve. but i digress.

my argument to his marital aversion was that i believe most commit to relationships for all the wrong reasons and out of haste. if more people were more patient, then divorce would not be so commonplace and marital misery would not be the norm.

i, of course, am the romantic, with the malady of the 'almost perfect, but not quite' girl that shel silverstein wrote about. in another blog i will describe what it is i am searching for in a relationship/significant other but, suffice it to say, i do desire a travelling companion.

so my guess is, in the spirit of irony, if you fast forward 5 years, he'll probably be married, with he and his wife expecting their 2nd child and i'll still be a swinging single with zero prospects.

isn't that always the way. :)