My dear readers,

I know it's been a while since I last left words for you here.  And I will tell you that during the past 12 months or so, I have instead, funneled all those thoughts and words to one single being, whether it was text, spoken or email, it was mostly to one person.  And of course, this left very little space and time for you in this blog.

And now it feels as if I were coming away from a very intense period of my life, where I felt as if I had been in a different world, the world of "Cloud 9", where everything feels more profoundly.  At this point, as my feet have landed back on earth, I am returning to the things I was doing before, which fulfilled me and made me happy before this special person came along, and that includes writing to you, my dear reader.

And on the light of that, here's a topic that many times has been brought up and not too often understood.  Which is, why is it that when we fall into a romantic situation, we tend to "drop off the edge of the earth?"  How many times have we seen our friends do that?  How many times have we done that to our friends?
 

And at the time when we are the ones disappearing from our social circles, certain close friends could resent that.  And when we are in the social circle, we miss the disappearing friend.  And I have always sworn that when it'd be my turn, that I wouldn't do it.  But one thing is what we plan, and the other is what we actually do.

After all, we are all given 24 hours a day, and it is up to us to determine best how to spend them. In the end, when the "love bug bites us", it really influences our decisions as far as where and with whom to spend our limited time. Also, there are instances when we may fall for someone who demands a lot of our time. But ultimately, how we choose to spend those hours of our day, and with whom, is our decision and ours alone. As a result, there is the likelihood that if we don't manage it well, our friendships may suffer. And we are the only ones to blame. For we may be taking those friendships for granted. "They'll understand," we may say. I would say, think again.

I think, that as long as we keep the lines of communication open with our friends, the relationships will survive, especially if and when things don't work out with the "object of our affection", and we turn back to our former support system. 

As we all know, when we fall in love, nothing compares to the object of our desire. There are times, of course, when we eventually have to walk away, though feelings may be tugging at our hearts to turn back to that special person. But if the decision made is the right one, we need to keep moving forward, and hopefully our friends will be there for us, to get us through the weak moments. So, during the heat of romance, it is best to keep those lines of communication open. That means, at least a text message or a phone call once in a while. Friends do understand these things and are appreciative for at least that kind of effort. For even if things work out wonderfully romantically, sooner or later we'll return to our old circle, and it is good to know they'll be there because we did not cut them off completely.

That's the issue about friends, but when it comes to our romantic life, when it doesn't work out,  chances are that some of you out there may say, if it doesn't work out, wouldn't you feel as if you wasted all your precious time with that person for all that time? All that time, emotion and energy devoted? All for nothing!

Sure!  We can look at it that way.  But we can also look at it as, well, this was a wonderful period that one can be thankful for.  And even though we are no longer in that magical Cloud 9, even though we may walk away empty-handed and with bleeding hearts, it feels good to know you can look back and say, "I gave it my very best."  No regrets.

This afternoon HBO was showing Out of Africa.  An exquisite 25-year old movie, which I highly recommend for all of you to see.  Of course, if you have the attention span of a 3-year old, don't bother, for the movie is long and not full of action or drama, therefore it moves slowly.  It's a visual treat, for it takes you to the plains of Africa.  And it has so many aspects that many of you will greatly appreciate, such as the animals, the safari suits, the lifestyle back then, at the beginning of last century, and the breathtaking views.  Make sure to watch it on a large screen and with surround sound, if possible.  Merryl Streep and Robert Redford are at their best.

Out of Africa is not for everyone, but if you manage to watch it, you will agree that one central message of this movie is that we do not own anyone, especially those we love.  In fact, we own nothing, for we are here only in passing.  Therefore, we can't afford to take anything for granted, for it may not be there tomorrow.

And with that, I leave you tonight, hoping some of you forgive my absence.  I do thank you for having continued to visit, even though I was unable to update you on a timely basis.  I am back now, having been enriched by a beautiful and intense experience, ready to listen to all of you again and dispense my two cents here and there.

So, keep writing, keep visiting.  There are so many other topics I'm ready to talk about.  And of course, feel free to suggest anything or ask any questions.  Until the next time my friends!

Looking forward to what life will offer next.

The NYC Girl