“A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain?” Kahlil Gibran

Here is the hard, but so necessary, post I hinted about it.  First I have to mention this post: http://atomic-temporary-33385295.wpcomstaging.com/2015/05/11/tired-of-accepting-less-than-i-deserve/

You don’t have to read it again, I will summarize it here: AL is 16 years younger than I am. We dated briefly and even though we got along we realized that we were better as friends.  Then he got very busy and our friendship became texting only. I was not happy that he didn’t make time to see me and asked him not to contact me again.  I felt I needed and deserved more from a friend.  That is pretty much the meat of that post.

“Friendship is the purest love. It is the highest form of Love where nothing is asked for, no condition, where one simply enjoys giving.” ― Osho

Then I changed my mind… I missed him and decided I rather have a texting relationship then none.   I felt that he was much more of a friend than some of my other friends.  I missed our banter.  So I thought about it for a few days (extra points for me for not being impulsive) and finally texted him.

It is a bit embarrassing to go on and on a post about something and then completely change my mind.  But I can see beauty and freedom in that too.  I am only human and often confused.

He replied immediately saying how happy he was that I got in touch.  He said there were many times he wanted to say hi but he was trying to respect my wishes.  From then on we started texting again.  He also promised to make more of an effort.  And he has.  One evening over a week ago,  right after I had returned home from a date,  he texted me to say hello.  I started confiding in him about the date and he invited me over to his house.  I went.  We shared a glass of wine and many stories.  It felt great seeing him again. When I was about to leave we kissed.  And then we kissed some more.   I left before things went any further.

I got home that night and an idea started forming in my head.  What if AL and I became Friends with Benefits?  The next morning that idea was still in my mind and it only kept getting stronger.

“All discarded lovers should be given a second chance, but with somebody else.” ― Mae West

It is about time this hot Brazilian injects some fun into her life and learns to be freer with her body. I miss sex, I miss intimacy.  Sometimes all a girl wants is to be touched.  But I don’t want to jump in bed with just anyone.  AL seemed like the perfect guy to help me with that.  We had sex before and I have good memories of it.  He is familiar, safe and non-threatening.  I don’t have to commit to him (lately it seems that any time a guy gets close to me I run away).  I have no expectations.  I don’t want a relationship with him.  He is a great guy but besides the large age difference, we are at very different stages in life.  Also, some of his quirks that now seem fun would end up driving me nuts.

And that is when I wrote on my last post the little preview about writing this post.  I wanted your feedback.  I am not completly sure what I wanted to achieve but writing about it.  I don’t know if I wanted you to tell me that it was okay to go ahead and have sex with him.  I don’t know if I wanted you to talk some sense into me and make me change my mind.  I probably wanted you to point out all the flaws in my plan.  I also wanted to out myself on the fact that I miss and want sex.  I am fiercely independent so it is hard to face certain things, such as the fact that I miss having sex with someone.  It is hard to come out and say that I am actually thinking that having a friend with benefits is a great idea.  It is hard for me to say that I am not self sufficient and need someone.

“I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes.” ― Edna St. Vincent Millay

I kept coming up with reasons on how this was a great idea and it was perfectly acceptable.  Sex is healthy!  We are friends!  We had sex before!  After all we are both adults and single.  But are we?  Well he has a girlfriend that for some reason I have no problem forgetting about.   I have been cheated on, so I should be even more opposed to that idea than the average person.  Truth is I am not sure he still has a girlfriend and if so how serious it is.  It is hard for me to believe that he would be willing to cheat on his girlfriend.  Would this arrangement be called cheating?  Don’t answer; I know the answer to that!  Still his girlfriend never figured in my decision (I am not proud of that).

I knew that next time I saw AL again it would be hard to stop at kissing.  I knew it would be my doing if something happened as he is not the type to push and pressure anyone into anything.  Instead of looking forward to a third date with this one available guy I have been dating, I was looking forward to seeing AL again and already fantasying about all the possibilities.

“Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.” ― Rumi

Two nights ago, before I had the chance to write this post AL came to my apartment.   At first I just showed him my new apartment and we talked about some improvements I want to make. The whole time there was this underlying sexual tension.  We both knew we would kiss.  I don’t think we knew for sure that we would do more than kissing. Can we stop at kissing?  Should we? Why should we?  I was okay with anything happening or not happening.

We kissed! We kissed a lot!  And we didn’t stop there!  I will not bore you with the details…yadda yadda yadda we had sex!

This post was going to be about the idea of making something happen, now it is a “been there, done that, don’t need to do it again”.  This post is about being honest, human and flawed.  I make mistakes, sometimes I go out of my way to make mistakes.  Sometimes I know it is a mistake and I do it anyway.  I know there will be tons more down the road and I look forward to them all.

“sex is the consolation you have when you can’t have love” ― Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez

Immediately after sex I felt odd.  Don’t get me wrong, sex was good, but it didn’t seem to be what I needed.  I didn’t feel good or bad.  It is hard to explain.  Sex was comforting, fun, satisfying but also it felt temporary, lacking and empty.  It was empty in meaning, it lacked future.  I expected to either feel great about it or feel totally guilty.  I felt neither.  I felt weirdly and plainly okay.

After he left I was incredibility happy.  Not happy that he left, but happy that it had happened and it was over.  Most of all I was happy that it is never going to happen again (he doesn’t know that yet).  I had this calmness come over me.  I had this assuredness that I knew exactly how I felt about this. I had this sense that what had just happened was a necessary mistake. I needed to know in person/reality and not just in concept that this was not for me.  Somehow I don’t think that I would have listened to anyone telling me how dumb my idea was.  I had to go through it, the feelings, the emotions, the before, the after, the emptiness and the discovery!

“Sex is always about emotions. Good sex is about free emotions; bad sex is about blocked emotions.” ― Deepak Chopra

I am not a friends with benefit type of person.  I am not passing judgment on anyone that does that as for awhile I thought it would work for me.  And who knows I may change my mind again.  But I realize that at this point in my life is not what I want.  I want meaning and positive energy.  I want to elevate my soul, to make it happy, to make it sing.  This is not the way to achieve that for me.  Sex to me is more than the physical part; it is the exchange of energy, the building of something, perhaps memories.  It is the oneness that one only gets when there is love and continuity. Somehow I need to have a commitment from the other person.  I want it all, the passion, the gentleness, the wild and raw, the miracle of it, and it can only be miraculously if you are with someone that you love and care about.   Perhaps what I am really trying to do is control sex.   Can sex be controlled?

“Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.” ― Oscar Wilde

That AL perhaps has a girlfriend shouldn’t go unnoticed either.  I don’t want to be the cause of anyone’s sadness.  I don’t want to contribute to anyone’s betrayal.  I don’t want that negative energy in my life. The truth is if I want to just have a sexual relationship with no strings attached I could easily have a line outside my door of single guys.  I don’t need to be with anybody’s boyfriend.  I know better than that.  I doubt his girlfriend is serious, or even if he has one now, but that is really besides the point now.  At that point I didn’t care if he had or not. I am not proud of that fact, but it is sadly true.

“If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.” ― Francis Bacon, The Advancement Of Learning

I am embarrassed to be writing about this as at my age (almost 50). Where is the cosmopolitan world traveler Brazilian New Yorker? I fear I am sounding like a confused 20 yr old.  But these are my issues and what is in my mind.  I am going to own up to everything, pretty or not.  It is about knowing and accepting myself, and not making excuses.

I am not sure what came over me with those thoughts.  I think that it had something to do with the fact that lately when I start dating someone the moment they like me and they seem to want to get close to me, I run!  So at this rate I will never have sex again.  I broke things off with the date from the other day, the one I was confiding in AL about it.  He seemed to like me too much too fast so I felt pressured and ran.  It turns out the worst thing a man can do to me is show me he is very interested in me.  I start finding fault with him. I start projecting years down the road and I am turned off by what I see.  I think I am just afraid of giving anyone new a chance.

“So far, about morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.”― Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon

I am weirdly okay with this whole turn of events: texting AL again, having sex, deciding it is not for me.  I am even happy about it.  I would never have found out exactly how I feel about this had I not gone through. I don’t feel defeated, I feel empowered.  I have now a better sense of direction.  It is crazy to think that I needed this to happen but I think it was necessary for me.  If I were to continue on this route of sex without meaning it would only cheapen the whole act for me.  I like this romantic idea I have of it.  I also think that if I were to fully embark on that I would never give any new guy a chance.  AL would become my crutch.

Perhaps I am afraid of getting hurt, of becoming vulnerable again.  I am fearless, or so I thought.  My actions lately seem all driven out of some kind of fear!

The best thing is that now I have a new resolve, new outlook, new determination.  I decided to give new people a chance.   I will welcome people instead of driving them away.  I will not project into the future.  I will take it one day at a time.  I will trust! I will let the light in!

And here I remain so sure of something and still totally confused!  But one think is for certain I am proud of telling you the naked truth!

“Don’t be afraid to be confused. Try to remain permanently confused. Anything is possible. Stay open, forever, so open it hurts, and then open up some more, until the day you die, world without end, amen.” ― George Saunders, The Braindead Megaphone

***

I am not sure what will happen to the relationship I have with AL.  We continue to talk and text as if nothing happened.  I am a bit less flirty as I don’t want to give him any ideas.  Clearly we are very close friends as I can confide in him with anything.  I am comfortable enough with him to be naked in front of him while I know I am not physically at my best (that says a lot!).   I know that we will see each other again and I know in my heart that we will not have sex again – I just know it.  I no longer want to, I am no longer curious.  I am curious about his girlfriend though.  Does he really have one, how serious is she that he is willing to cheat on her?  I never asked him about that.  Somehow I never thought he would be the kind of guy that cheats on his girlfriend.   AL has been a constant in my life the past 3 years (even if for a long time it was just texting).  I appreciate his presence in my life.  If he were to disappear I would miss him.  He makes me smile. He is my friend!

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”― Marcel Proust