A year makes a record for me, in fact: I've had relationships that have come and gone over the course of several years, but none that have remained steady for one passing of the earth around the sun. (And to think I'll have only 80 of those to pass around-- if I'm lucky-- and I've already use 24! Yikes! My mid-mid-life crises raises its ugly head!)

It seems like a lot of my friends are settling down. Maybe it's a post-college thing. It's strange to realize that not only do you have to find "The Right Person" (despite what Plato says in that essay, I don't think it's limited to just one) but there's a factor of "The Right Person At The Right Time." That's not just a matter of having all those sowed-wild-oats out of the way, and that's not just a matter of maturity; it's a decision that you make, and that your life will make for you.

When you're going to settle in to something wonderful, you have to undergo a deliberate pruning of imagination. You stop playing what-if, put aside the coulda-beens. Move your gaze from the horizon, to the one in your arms. And what seems like a narrowing will open up whole new frontiers in your life.