Entanglements

To break clean or not, that is the question.

To recap... I love Annie. She doesn't love me. Seems like a no brainer, right?

It never is with me. I allowed myself to become emotionally enmeshed with her children. My children were allowed to become emotionally enmeshed with her. There is no use telling me it shouldn't have happened. It did happen. We started as friends, remember? Now do we continue as "friends"? Look, I don't disagree that the kids would benefit. Hell, I would benefit. I like her kids. I like hanging out and laughing. But is such a thing possible?

Her children love me, she has said. I can see that they do. I seem to have filled a void for them. My youngest certainly seems to love Annie. He speaks of her fondly and often.

A mature person might be able to handle a Just Friends Reversal (JFR) but can I? How do I get past her if I still see her? How can I not love her when the sight of her does strange things inside of me? It makes part of me ache not to be able to put my arms around her when I see her. I am filled with the most awful envy when I think of someone else being able to put his arms around her.

Isn't this asking too much?

The JFR is impossible. Has it ever been done?