Dropped the ball. You said you think about the ski trips and the business plans we could have had. Well, I have also thought a lot about that. I think I previously mentioned that I wish you had mentioned the business idea a long time ago!

We both had plenty of opportunities to get the other involved in ski trips, etc., but for any number of reasons we would touch base and then drop off for a while. Karen was the one who got you over for dinner that time when I was in the apartment in Brooklyn post-divorce.

So now I am not going to drop the ball. I am willing (and able) to keep plenty of communication heading your way. The drop-off in 2003 shows what happens when each of us waited for the other.

For once I feel we have come too far to go back. My psychologist said I might be considered high-maintenance, but while I do throw a lot at you and you have picked and chosen to do some things, I am not keeping score.

The key to understanding human relationships is that I cannot make anyone do anything. So if you choose to do something and then get pissed off at the fact that you did it, well, it is not really my fault. This is meant to be a generic comment. Another Pete pearl of wisdom.

The point is life is all about doing new things. You cannot know until you do something what it will be like. The key is to be able to be open enough with the other person to say, "Okay, this is not where I want to spend time" and in a good healthy relationship there are enough other areas to pick up the slack.

So for example I certainly have fewer activities on my plate at this point than you do! But I still have the same twenty-four hours a day you do and how we each choose to spend that time says a lot about who we are.

For example it is certainly easier for me emotionally to simply spend my day reading fiction and vegging out in the world of fantasy. As a matter of fact this letter was signed, sealed and almost delivered at page six, but then I decided to open it back up and write some more instead of reading, although the mystery book is at a tense moment.

We both have put ourselves into this relationship and I think it shows it has evolved both of us to share both some deeply personal stuff and to even sound off at one another. As you know the one time (stand by - only one person wanted the cookies and John now asked for the tuna, so let me mix that up and get back to this thought.)

Okay, the "random acts of kindness" department is now closed. Where was I?

I still get antsy and paranoid when you don't send me a letter or even a short note for over two weeks. You also have an advantage since, except for that one short period, I do not have the luxury of a computer. And with my ADD, even when I ask you something in a letter, the odds are, given a few weeks, I forget too!

So let me make sure this letter gets out tonight.

Keep the faith. Life is full of possibilities and you and I will both be able to grab some of the good stuff soon enough.  ¶ 8:22 AM