my friend joe

     I have a friend Joe.  To keep his annonynimity we will call him that because his name is Joeseph.  Joe and his partner have been together for years.  They have been together so long they call good dinner conversation seperate vacations.  I don't know why they call eachother partners.  Neither one of them is in business together.  Anyway has a way of putting things that I just don't understand.  I get to his house, we watch T.V., kill a bottle of vino and just shoot the shit like normal.  As I am about to leave he offers me tomato sauce he made.  "I made it too garlicy and it makes me gassy.  You're single, you can bloat." I let the coment slide, laugh and leave.

     Next time I hang with Joe he tells me about some dinner party he's planning.  He tells me about the food and who's coming.  I then ask why I have not recieved an invitation.  He says, "Yuri, it's going to be all couples.  Each couple brings a bottle of wine.  You don't want to look like an alchy drinking a whole bottle."What?  Who says that.

    A few months later I am in a few months into a relationship.  I hang with Joe again.  He asks me how my love life is going.  I tell him it's great getting to know someone in this way.  He asks, "Yuri, how does it feel not knowing if he will be there tomorrow and constantly knowing will this last?  I remember that feeling."

     After years of being in the same relationship.  You know, years after the arguments over who sleeps on what side of the bed, Joe starts getting all competive.  "So, still doing it all the time?  After a while you won't need that reassurance and your relationship will feel stable if it makes it like ours."...

(rant to be continued... Any suggestions for direction?)