Friday, November 15, 2002

In response to this post in which I complained a bit about the direction taken on the NBC show Ed, someone asked for my thoughts on what makes a successful long-term relationship.

I wish I knew.

The only answer that I can safely offer is that in a successful relationship, one should always find the idea of parting from the other person completely unpalatable, and always so -- even when a problem has occurred, when a bump in the road has been discovered, even when one is so fed up with the other person that (s)he wants nothing better than to go away. I think it was said best in When Harry Met Sally..., when at the very end, Harry (Billy Crystal) is rattling off a list of things he loves about Sally (Meg Ryan), and he concludes with: "And I love that you are the last person I want to speak to before I go to sleep at night." So, I think for a relationship to be successful, a person should believe of their partner: "Even when you've got me so mad that I don't want to be around you, the thought of not being around you disgusts me."

Not a very good answer, I suppose, but I think it's a start.

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