eom

Give it time. Someone will stop by for a visit and an extended stay

eom

bot for both of my "success" I had given up hope of finding anyone, yet I was accepting of that. I had just decided to get on with life and be single. A year later, I met my first wife, and she had gone through a similar "giving up."

My second success is my current GF and we had a similar giving up before meeting. Maybe that's just something that's happened to us, but it's also a positive way of letting it all go yet still having a good life. And then good things happen when you least expect it

eom

then met and married my hubby 5 years ago. So, just when you aren't looking, somebody might very well come along.

eom

We hope to move her here in another year or so

Some people never have a 'successful' relationship and you've had two... Perhaps that is all that you will ever need! I hope so.

Thanks for the thought, too

more than half the battle won!

Still love them both, but I have not had any contact with one in over a decade.

and talk by email or FB from time to time. I guess I love her as a friend now, but no more than that. The regularity of our contact is waning, though...

We've been dating again, and she told me that wants me to move back in, but I'm not sure if I really want to.

sleep on it! Sometimes giving this kind of thing Time is the best option.

My ex and I were close at first, and now it's turned into something more like "good friends".

Good luck with your past-wife, however it works out

I've loved many times in my long life...One success, my marriage...

As for other successes, it depends on how you define it.

If it's one-sided, or as in the case of the second one for me, learning that she was "taken", then that's not a success. Any relationship where even after break-up, you remain on friendly terms would be a success as well

Then I've had 2 successes.

And it's good to see you doing better as well! I hadn't posted to your medical threads as I never know what to say. I always feel at a loss for words, awkward, and yet I like to call myself a writer

And will be for life

one has been drifting among the stars for twenty years [img][/img]

I didn't see it, and no one else has said anything

That was nice, the one you posted, and about your other loves

I doubt I'll find another.

is not feeling alone. That goes a long way in living life and enjoying it. I hope you had a good life together

and none of them turned out well.

I hope something turns out right for you, whenever it happens

and he was a bit of a prick...but I still think of him...what a pillock

because you made me laugh!

First time was fantastic, for a while. Second time was total disaster. Third time I got married, and we've been together for 32 yrs.

And while I sometimes wish my marriage had gained that kind of staying power (we managed to keep it together 7 yrs, 7 mos.) I can't imagine my life without my current GF. Part of that is our long-running relationship (six years.)

I do seem to fall for foreign women for my successes, though (1st one Canadian, 2nd one Kiwi)

And they were both disasters. The first one was seeing three girls at once (I was a bitch and told the other 2 after I found out) and the second had a major drinking problem (which I did not see when I was dating him) and ended up leaving me stranded as my job sent me halfway across the country on an assignment. I actually saw him (2nd man) last week and took one look at him and wonder what the hell I saw in him.


I think I love someone new, and he's been nothing but wonderful to me in the year I've known him. Problem is we live 6 hours apart. While our moments together are definitely worthwhile, the distance just SUCKS. We're hoping that work sends him to my state this year, and I am going out of my way to make that possible.

(my GF is a citizen of New Zealand) and it's stressful sometimes. However, that love is often so strong that you work it out however you can. I'm sure you two will be together before you know it

At age 22, I did not have the means to run over to Europe whenever I wanted, and my GF (now wife) was completing her education in social work in Germany, something she could not have done in the States. We "commuted" for four years before being able to spend more time with each other. But we withstood the tests of time and distance. I think we both knew that we had found "the one," and we were determined not to lose out on something wonderful just because we happened to have been born on different sides of the Atlantic.

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my ex wife Wendy

Melissa

and Gwen

I remember them all fondly

yeah, there were other women in between and after (NOT during) these relationships

but not to the devotion I felt for these three

I discussed marriage with Melissa and Gwen - we lived together (not at the same time)

sadly, or luckily didn't happen . . .

(sigh)

The fond memories, though, certainly make it all feel better. And you deserve to have even more

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One turned out to be a total liar. It kept me from trusting anyone for years.

The other, well, we broke up in October, but are speaking again after I reached out. There might be something there still. We'll see.

I hope something good works out for y'all

I was 27 when I got the it's okay you're never going to give me grandkids or get married spiel. Nothing has changed in the last 5 years to make me think anything is going to change and I figure if the parent that likes me has given up hope, then it's probably best to just know it's never going to happen.

But hey, my cat likes me, so there's something.

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never give up

oh yeah,

I been burnt, hurt and abused dozens of times

but the few that were good to me makes it all worth while

carry on

Omg... at least try! jezus!

You seriously need to see yourself for who you are, not who they try to tell you who you are.

So glad you have a cat.

I had had no relationships before then. And I found the woman I married (the first marriage anyway) about a year later. This was also back when everyone with a camera and a microphone was saying how bad online relationships always worked out and to never trust anyone online. Well, that's where we met, married a year later and stuck with it for over seven years.

Don't worry about having no one now. Someone will come along. And your cat does love you

Life will kick you in the ass. Big time.
imo: beautiful surprises happen when we aren't paying close attention. [img][/img]

Gotta love those relationships that continue to give us good feelings

1. 6th grade
2. 8th grade
3. 19 years old and current

May have been more, but I don't remember

I'm lucky to get the right decade at this point!

Can't get any better than that

Two successful. My marriage and the marriage that almost was. I loved that person very, very much, but I was young and immature. So was he.
The unsuccessful one ended disastrously...

May it always be that way

Truly. I've drug him all over the country in pursuit of my zany academic plans. We'll finally be settling down in May, probably too late to have the kiddos he always wanted, but I guess you never know.

For myself, my cat (and my GF's dog and cat) those are my kiddos. For others, that's adopting or even just volunteering. I'm sure y'all will figure out the right way

May not mean happiness, though it can lead to that with more experience

First time to a woman who was already married but her marriage was soulless and destroying her. I had graduated from uni a year before and was still living like a student (e.g. shared rental accommodation). She was living in a nice house with a swimming pool and drove a nice car. So she was very wary of getting involved. I had a good job and with hindsight, I would have bought a house and presented a more "responsible" face. But I didn't.

Stuffed up all my relationships for the next 6 years, including one to the most beautiful woman I've ever met - I just wasn't over the first one.

Second one: my wife. Married for 31 years. So, can't complain.

It's amazing what love does to us, especially when we want to just turn it off. You managed to do that just in time, though

One I met at 18, and she dumped me at almost 21. I was devastated at the time. Little did I know.

I met the other at 22, and we are still happily together, almost 39 years later..

The first one married a hotshot banker who apparently got into some funky stuff, got some $200 million golden parachute to do a convincing disappearing act, and I'm sure they are now deliriously happy spending quiet weekends at home counting their money and their houses.

Like Tom T. Hall once sang about "Pamela Brown:" "Lord, I hope she's happy 'cause she sure deserves to be. Especially for what she did for me."

My wife and I will celebrate 39 years together this summer. I don't imagine I could have managed that with anyone else. That she crossed my path (and chose to stay on it with me) was like winning the grand prize in life's most important lottery.

On both stories
Glad you stuck with the right one. Now on to your 39th anniversary, and beyond!

1981:
[IMG][/IMG]

2012:
[IMG][/IMG]

But thanks for the rest, anyhow!

is that a friend of mine had one. It could record in stereo so we used it to record our excursions into illegal street dumps, and our project to help entropy take effect on various dumped appliances

All unsuccessful and unrequinted. No prospect of that changing due to circumstances, unfortunately

I hope you have great friends, though

Married the first true love after living with him for 2 years; stayed married for 24 years and then it ended.

I have been seeing the second true love for 20 years. Met him at a dance and I thought he looked like Omar Sharif of Dr. Zhivago fame. Love at first sight. He is 10 years younger than I and it has been a roller-coaster ride. I believe it is in the process of ending now, we just don't want to admit it.

I won't talk about the major crush.

I think I will find someone I love again before my life is over but it will be a different type of love.

What is your definition of successful? I am hoping you were not seeing them both at the same time ... my relationships were in succession I might add!

Sam

or ends that way. That is, you're at least not willing to kill each other, or commit some other act of revenge against the other

I feel different types of love can replace having a partner. If it satisfies your "soul" or whatever you want to call it, then there's no reason you have to be in a relationship to get the same kind of happiness.

I wish you luck wherever love takes you

I have loved every student I've ever taught unconditionally. I haven't kept count over the decades.

I've loved a long line of cats, dogs, and horses.

I've loved 5 friends, 4 family members not counting those listed below, 2 men, and 6 in-laws. A few co-workers. Sometimes I've loved myself.

The greatest love is saved for my two sons and my grandson.

Or, did you mean something more specific, lol?

One, that you're being facetious.
Two, that you've read the entire thread in order to be facetious

Thus, I think you know what I'm asking as much as the rest of the participants so far. That is, romantic love with a significant other

.... what is love anyway? The girl I went out with in high school who sent me letters with upside down stamps? That coworker that became your friend and then it started steamrolling out of control and you don't quite know what to do?

I've been married three times. The first, well I was young. The second, well she gave me two sons and yet I'm not sure I was ever really in love with her, but I love my sons.

I'm on the third and this is is love. We've been together 15 years and it is awesome every single day and I would do anything for her. This marriage is the relationship that makes all the others seem just ok. So judging from this yardstick the count would be pretty low. Maybe only to include those that "got away" before reality could trump love's dreams.

"How many times have you moved in your lifetime?" It's just a fun thread, not meant for deep philosophical discussion of "what is love?" Start another thread just on that.

And it doesn't matter to me how many unsuccessful or successful relationships you've had, so long as you're happy with what you've gotten out of them or where you are now. It sounds like your current one is the relationship to focus on

.... sort of a Lounge kibbitzer

You posted a "success" after all

The first was good, but ended. (4 years)
The two in the middle were bad and destructive. .(incandescent, corrosive and brief)
The last was the very best. Didn't come along until I was 34 but it was worth waiting for. (26 years and counting)

It does seem like the best ones come from waiting for them

Usually, if you're in a relationship with someone, you'd like for it to work out. But sometimes I realized I was not the right man for that particular woman, and sometimes I got dumped (for reasons which became more apparent over time), and there were a couple of other women who showed interest in me, but in the end, my heart was already lost to the woman who would become my wife.

Would I like to fall in love again? Most definitely, but I wouldn't want my new ladylove to be saddled with any of my residual baggage. Maybe it's unavoidable, but it still seems dreadfully unfair. For now, I am probably better off single. But if a woman approaches me with that special look in her eyes - I'll try to keep my heart open.

is that everyone has baggage. If you truly love each other, you'll talk about those things. You may then discover how alike you are in life's experiences, even the negative ones.

I do like your approach, to keep your heart open for that one with the special look

We met in a gay bar on Monday, March 7th 1989 and nothing has ever been the same since. I loved several men in my life but my love wasn't really returned in those situations. When its returned, its different, way different.

Love doesn't care what (or to whom) your attractions are. You just know it when it's true. I'm happy to hear it worked out so well for you

YouTube has been blocked at work, for whatever weird reasons. If it's a streaming issue, I wish they'd just come right out and tell us not to stream, instead of this piecemeal blocking of sites known for streaming...

They haven't yet learned about my two faves, HayHouseRadio or somafm, so I'm safe there for now

I'm about to marry my second this upcomming August.

Post the wedding photos here then