Heavy lifting

Is it safe to assume that most people reading an online blog about dating have been through the experience of moving to a new home or apartment?

Think back to the last time you moved. Did you move by yourself? Did you load that U-Haul truck on your own? Did you carry that couch out of the old second-floor apartment by yourself? Probably not.

When it's time to move you recruit the help of your friends or relatives. Why? Because it's too difficult to move all your crap on your own.

That's the way I look at life.

Sure, you can accomplish most of life's challenges without the help of others, but periodically you need somebody else's help to meet the challenges of day-to-day life.

I see/hear it periodically: people who are in a long-term relationship envy those of us who are free to sit up late at night eating saltines and watching mindless television without having to answer to another person. The grass is always greener, they say.

Some people really don't want to share their life with anyone else. I think they're in the minority. I don't know that for a fact, it's just my theory.

The longer you go through life as a single person, the more challenging it gets to break the cycle, I believe. Eventually you get to a point where you assume all hope is lost, and stop trying.

You still want somebody there to help you with the heavy lifting, but you start to believe you're going to have to do it all yourself.

I have never been a tough guy. I learned years ago I didn't want to do all the heavy lifting on my own, but most days I have nobody to help me with it. And now my back hurts.