It's hard to divide affections.

No, sex doesn't always have to enter into friendships between men and women. Take [link|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067185/|Harold and Maude], for instance. ;-)

If you have a romantic relationship with someone and it ends, can you continue on as "just friends"? Is that even possible?

It's pretty rare, I think. It's hard to divide affections. "Romantic relationships" generally have a lot of emotional baggage (for want of a better word) with them. If the romance ends, I think one usually wants to move on or put sufficient emotional distance between the other person so that romance is possible with someone else. (This is one of the reasons why dating co-workers is generally not a good idea.)

Another issue is that often (usually?) in dating relationships that break up, the affection is stronger on one end than the other. That makes it even more difficult to continue the relationship in a platonic way as equals or even "just friends".

If it's a relationship between emotional equals, and both agree on how the relationship should go, then "just friends" can work. But it's pretty rare, I think.

My $0.02.

Cheers,
Scott.

Post #228,305 by Another Scott 10/5/05 10:31:50 PM Reply	It's hard to divide affections. No, sex doesn't always have to enter into friendships between men and women. Take [link\|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067185/\|Harold and Maude], for instance. ;-) If you have a romantic relationship with someone and it ends, can you continue on as "just friends"? Is that even possible? It's pretty rare, I think. It's hard to divide affections. "Romantic relationships" generally have a lot of emotional baggage (for want of a better word) with them. If the romance ends, I think one usually wants to move on or put sufficient emotional distance between the other person so that romance is possible with someone else. (This is one of the reasons why dating co-workers is generally not a good idea.) Another issue is that often (usually?) in dating relationships that break up, the affection is stronger on one end than the other. That makes it even more difficult to continue the relationship in a platonic way as equals or even "just friends". If it's a relationship between emotional equals, and both agree on how the relationship should go, then "just friends" can work. But it's pretty rare, I think. My $0.02. Cheers, Scott.
Post #228,307 by imqwerky 10/5/05 10:36:06 PM Reply	Harold did Maude Don't you remember? That was what turned Harold's life around. Ah,CRS. The bane of all existence! Peace, Amy Oh Freddled Gruntbuggly!
Post #228,309 by Another Scott 10/5/05 10:38:27 PM Reply	I've not seen the movie in its entirety. It's on The List.
Post #228,319 by imqwerky 10/5/05 10:48:47 PM Reply	It's a great flick. My son was behaving in a very fatalistic manner, so I rented it for his sake recently. Now, I'm not condoning that he sleep with someone 30+ years older than he, but the message of living for the day came through. He at least now is glad to be alive and is not so depressing all the time. Come to think of it, he was doing a bang-up Marvin the robot impression. Oh, the phases that teens go through. Om help us! Peace, Amy Oh Freddled Gruntbuggly!

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