The other.

A single friend was none too happy at 'losing' a regular movie buddy, who has been spending all her time with the new man. She asked if couples had no wish to continue socialising with other friends. I thought that couples spend most (but not ALL) of their time in each other's company -- after all, this is your Significant Other for a good reason. And this exclusive arrangement works for certain people -- introverts who don't usually socialise much. Anyhow, the new couple is still in the honeymoon phase and most probably just need a bit more time before they settle into their 'normal' routines again.

(Perhaps it's just that her friend had managed to hook up with someone from the same outing that both girls had attended, while she hadn't.)

Is there a social etiquette to observe when a Significant Other makes an appearance? Does one graciously make way for one more person in the social booth? Is there an unspoken agreement about the honeymoon phase, and that even after the hormones have settled, the regular nights/weekends spent hanging out together might now have to become weekly or fortnightly outings, supplemented with emails and phonecalls?

Would you begrudge your friend (for whatever reasons) your 'lonely' nights/weekends?

- - - - - - - - - -

Time flies, doesn't it? Three more months to the end of the year.

I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house down.

As Chekov said, “Others made me a slave, but I must squeeze the slave out of myself, drop by drop.” Which I interpret to mean, You work hard to acquire self-knowledge so that you may look directly at the cards that life has dealt you, and learn to play them rather than regret them, thereby giving yourself the greatest single strength a human being can possess: knowing what you can live with and what you can’t live with – and why. That, I came to realize, is independence.”

- Vivian Gornick “What independence has come to mean to me” in “The Bitch in the House” edited by Cathi Hanauer.

I realised last night that this complacent little pig’s house is still made of straw.