Posted on February 22, by Jamieson Wolf. Leave a Comment. To his mind, Charley Inglewood had only been in love three times in his life. The first had been a man twenty two years older than him. The second, a brief but passionate affair, with a man twelve years older than him. His ex was only nine years older than him. Pretty young for him. In the end, Charley thought he went for men that attracted him.
Or at least he used to. He had been off of the dating market for well over a year. The guy had to be able to talk, had to be somewhat intelligent. Oh, and they had to have the basics of hygiene down pat; that was a biggie.
You would think he was searching for a needle in a haystack. After a month, Charley celebrated his independence. After three months, and a few bad dates, Charley tried to enjoy living alone. At nine months, he wondered if he should strike hygiene off of the list but decided against it. At twelve months, he had a revelation.
We are defined by time from the moment we enter the world. If you think about it, we are born to die; from the moment we take our first breath, we are heading towards a great journey. We define ourselves with people too. We are defined by the relationships we carry with us, by the people we associate with. But, more than anything, we define ourselves based upon our romantic entanglements.
So you look at apes. Yeah, they carry on serious relationships, but they are never with one mate for very long. Where love was concerned, Charley tended to agree with him. There were some things in love that were inherently instinctive; they were intuitive, intense.
