Dear Christine:

You wrote: “I really honestly do love myself. I’ve grown so much. I am not who I used to be.”

There is nothing like a new intimate relationship to challenge our growth and to bring back the way we used to be. Emotional attachment brings about old fears and it can be overwhelming.

This is why if you do choose to meet this man, better take it very, very slowly. Let him know this. If you meet him at all.

If you do, get to know him as a friend, aim perhaps at three months (you decide, of course) of friendship only, nothing more. Let him know, see if he agrees, if he is interested in friendship only for this or that amount of time, to be re-evaluated later.

anita