Well well well. Life is nothing, if not interesting.

I just arrived back at the Castle Lair from what may or may not be described as an impromptu pseudo-date. Yep, same girl I ventured into the edges of the mountains with last week. Although, based on tonight's discussions, I would not currently classify our relationship as being of a romantic nature. Well, actually I'm not sure how I would classify it. I guess would consider her a friend at this point.

Unbeknownst to me prior to tonight, she's right in the midst of a rebound from a pseudo-breakup with someone she obviously had/has very strong feelings for. Apparently, he does not share those feelings, a least to the same degree. Or maybe he did at one time, but no longer does. (Sometimes, it's hard to derive exactly what's going on when you only hear one side of the story, and that side comes from someone who herself is very confused about the whole thing, and even admits as much.)

A few sentences into the conversation, it became obvious to me that she was far from being over him. She is square in the middle of a state of awful, gut-wrenching, heartbreaking pain. There's no escaping that kind of hurt. I know, because I've been in a similar place in the past. (No, I'll not elaborate here. Hasn't everybody though, at one time or another?)

From this, I drew two conclusions. (1) She needed support and empathy, which I did my best to provide. (2) Now is certainly NOT the time for me to get seriously involved in a romantic relationship with this woman. Probably not anytime soon. It wouldn't be a good idea for either one of us right now. At least not until she gets things sorted out with regard to "him". Based on the way she spoke of him, that might take a while.

But do I want to be her friend? Certainly. When she spoke, I could feel her pain in my own past. Ouch. Nothing hurts the soul more deeply.

Time for me to sleep now. Dream of a perfect world where everyone gets along, all the people love each other, and no one's heart ever gets broken. Yeah, like that will ever exist. We can dream, right?