| ONE-ITIS-Noun
Common symptoms of stage 1 ONE-ITIS are the following:
-thinking she's so much different from any other girl you've ever met.
-thinking she is the most beautiful girl in the world.
-thinking she is to at least some degree innocent and moral.
Common symptoms of stage 2 ONE-ITIS are the following:
-calling her 2-3x a day, just to talk.
-staying on the phone when she calls you.
-analyzing everything she says and does. Example: "I saw Mary-Slu in the hall today, she looked my way, what did she mean by that???"
-completely ignoring every other girl who shows interest in you.
-asking anyone and everyone for advice and to over-analyze her actions.
-thinking your different from the other 100000000 million "good guy friends" she has.
"Shes different from any other girl I've ever met, I love her, even if shes a slut and has hooked up with all of my friends."
-Michael D. Wolfe
Fall is my favorite season and I have never figured out why. I suppose it's the same reason I love thunderstorms. In the fall I would help my Father and brother cut firewood for the winter. We'd finish off the garden which fed us all summer and would slaughter a steer to feed us through winter. But despite all of these things happening I knew it was fall because I could feel it. It was intangible. I just knew it was autumn before the leaves even changed.
So it is with many things in life. Love for instance is something like this. You either know you're in it or you're not. The same can be said for one-itis and thank GOD I have enough experience to know when it's happening. It's starting now- but this time I am a RAFC- and know what to do-
If this is happening to you- read this post, bookmark it- consider it a way to help and a cautionary tale. I have followed three women down this rabbit hole and each time we nearly destroyed one another.
My One-itis
I have had 3 one-itis in my AFC days and only one I still think about- to give you an idea I'll lay it out. Maybe too much detail, but think of it as a way for me to let this out in the air and deal with it.
1. Natalie- Blonde, pale, sad (in an emo sort of way). I met her through a friend, we went out once, I never called her back. She showed up at my work a month later and wanted to hang out- so we did, A LOT, but she was hung up on her exboyfriend...she loved Ani Difranco, Pearl Jam, being sad and feminism in a conservative Southern way. She kissed me one night to show me what it was like kissing her, but nothing ever happened between us- in retrospect I was a pussy. It ended when I went into the Navy- now nearly a decade later I realize, she was bat-shit out of her mind- as was I. We screwed each other up and made things worse.
2. Becca- blonde, southern belle type, beautiful. We met in college. I swore she was the one. She used to do this look back at me that drove me wild. The wind would blow and the sun would be in front of her and she'd look back with her hair blowing all around her while illuminated by the sun and she'd make eye contact with this underlook... so sexy. We spent every waking moment hanging out or, talking. We went to church together, we went to the lake together, we went to the grocery store together, sometimes we went hiking for hours; just her and I as far away from the world as you could get. Nothing but towering blue and green mountains keeping sentinel over us. A quote I always loved and something that always reminds me of hiking with her is:
To have traveled so far... From east to west, a thousand terrible miles; my feet treading all God's surface - his Ocean, his swamps, his slopes and ridges - to find myself at last a mark in the aching snow from whence I beheld through a blue haze a world of mountains piled upon mountains. Charles Frazier, "Cold Mountain," This has since only reminded me of home- but to me then- that was us.
We did EVERYTHING together. My mother thought she was the one, however- Becca saw things different. She only dated drug dealers. So while I fulfilled the actual needs her boyfriends didn't or refused to, the douche bag boyfriends played the showroom. I was deeply in love with her- but, emotionally immature and didn't know how to handle it. I ignored any woman who showed the slightest interest in me. I would destroy our relationship, come back, destroy, come back ect ect until one day I abandoned her when she needed me most- it was never the same after that. This one fucked me up bad, and her as well. It's one reason I moved to Baltimore. Until recently (as in the last month) I refused to even listen to Country music (her favorite).
3. Lindsey This is the one I still think about and I am not sure why. It's been a year and a half or more since we've talked..... She had raven hair and gems for eyes. There is something about brunettes. So sexy. Perfect in a crazy sort of way. We met online- from the get go I noticed some red flags but pushed forward. We finally met and went to a Chilis. We played like school kids all day and I haven't laughed that much since. After lunch we made it to an Ikea where we dared each other to do things like sit on a cactus or jump on the showroom beds. From there we went to the Chesapeake and I taught her how to drive golf balls. The perfect Sunday date. Then- two days later after talking constantly she decided she didn't want to talk anymore. No reason, just done. I was hurt and pissed. A month later she showed back up. We went to a bar to meet. I was still hurt by what happened so I asked her why she disappeared. She looked at me with her gem-stone eyes and said, "It's my nature. I run on instinct." I should have walked away then, but didn't. We rented a George Clooney (her favorite) movie and went back to her place. We cuddled on the couch and made out. She gave me a lot of LMR and then confounded me by asking me to stay over but I refused (AFC). After that night- we talked all the time about anything. Stupid things, funny things, sad things, happy things. I had started to fall for her. Then she pulled the same trick two days later out of nowhere. I made an impassioned plea- but it just made me look crazy. A month later I made her the character in one of my books- that really pissed her off. I haven't written a single word since. Not one word. I don't know why but part of my morning ritual is checking Craigslist missed connections to see if she posted something; I know she checks it, she told me. I think about her at least once, everyday. It's irrational- she's seriously got issues- so why the hold? I think this has something to do with fractionation. It is a form of hypnosis that puts someone under- breaks the trance and then puts them under again. The claim is the second trance is even deeper than the first because you fractured it. While I don't think I was hypnotized by her- I do think her leaving without warning and then doing the same trick was similar in concept to this.
Retrospect
These girls were special- but not in the way I made them out to be- I lost them the minute I put them on a pedestal. All these girls triggered my knight in shining armor complex as well. I wanted to save them- the problem with this is- they didn't want to be saved. This was also compounded by extreme compatibly and the fact that we "got" each other- I have no issue with totally platonic relationships- but these weren't. They're destructive and a passive mentality will only make things worse. I let it happen to me and she went along with it. We all want love to ride in on a dark horse, but sometimes it just doesn't happen that way. Thank God for these experiences- some might criticize me for getting involved to begin with- or being too sensitive, or giving in too easy- which in some ways is true---but these experiences make me the man I am today- and in the end I can only be the man I am.
I can feel another one-itis coming on with someone in my life- and this time it's not going to happen, I know too much- so to avoid a repeat, unnecessary hurt and to make sure I really find someone special out there- I am doing this:
Plan of action-
- Sarging with M & M today in the Inner Harbor- I am going to try to pickup like a man posessed. I don't think the 10 for 1 theory is the way to go- but sarging with M&M is fun and who knows I might meet someone!
- Cancel all plans with this person
- Fall off the grid for awhile.
- Recognize she isn't that great- she is just filling a void in my life- and in the end we'll just fuck each others lives up.
Game on gents. Game on. Plenty of girls out there who are truly special- why focus on one who doesn't want it? For anyone who is going or has been through this- take my post as a way to help you out- or through it- it affects men and women.
As a side note- I am seeing an upsurge in the readers of my FR- which is half journal/half FR- That is kind of flattering- if you're out there lurking and reading this- drop by, tell me what you think on this or any previous post- give me advice- words of wisdom- criticism..just say hi.....and for anyone reading this in Baltimore or surrounding- hit me up- let's hang out.
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