Hmmm.. just noticed that I seem to be unable to post more than once a month on average. Gotta work on that.

Anyway, here's the deal. Three months ago I heard from a woman I thought I'd never see or hear from again. That led to a phone call, which lasted an entire half hour before I was in a cab headed to her new place. It was as though there had never been an interval in which we never wanted to speak to one another.

Since then, we've been all but inseparable. So far the record is seven straight days at her place. It's been a hell of a lot of fun, and it's made me happier than I ever thought I'd be within a year of losing Tara. I believe I'm in love.

But there are issues. First off, I'm rapidly alienating my best friend. Our last conversation involved him hanging up on me after a very short, very terse exchange. That worries me, but I think it might be part of a bigger change than just this new relationship of mine. We'll see. Second, the way I am around this woman reminds me a lot of the way I was around my first love. It's a strange, heady combination of infatuation, obsession, passion, and more than a little jealousy. The odd thing is, I thought I had rid myself of the control-freakish capacity for jealousy. Apparently I was wrong. Third, the sheer amount of time we've been spending together is keeping me from things that matter to me. Like writing, mainly. This is the first thing I've written in almost a month.

So here's the question--or rather, the questions: Is this a good thing? Has my fateful breakup robbed me of all perspective? Is this just a really hard rebound? Or is it that something I've been waiting for, that something that kept me hesitating with Tara for all those years?

I'll tell you this. The way I just "click" with this woman is so natural it's a little unnerving. I've never put much stock in things like fate, destiny, or the idea of a soulmate, but this feels like all bloody three. We drink wine and we talk. We have done this several times, often for the entire evening. We make dinner together, and go for the odd coffee. We have so much sex that I have to recall my teenage years to find anything to compare to it.

Long story short, I like everything about her. I like her friends. Worse yet, I like her family. I like her sister, and her sister's kids--and to say I like anyone's kids is something. I even like her mother, for God's sake.