Well, Almost

In less than 48 hours, M3's girlfriend will return from her travels abroad to discover that, in her absence, their life has been sorted, separated and one half of it packed into boxes of varying shapes and sizes, temporarily taking up residence in their second bedroom, awaiting impending relocation to M3's new bachelor-style digs.

It also just so happens that I'll be in M3's medium-sized city (two hours to my north) on Saturday afternoon for another engagement. And while its like the understatement of the millennium to admit that I ache to see him, I've nonetheless declined his demand that we get together that evening.

Until M3 can produce a signed copy of a lease corresponding to a newly-rented abode that he does not currently and has no immediate plans to share with another woman, I will continue to invoke the obstinate yet all-knowing wisdom of countless friends, colleagues and 80s pop icons, Hall & Oates. No can do, my devastatingly charming, irresistibly handsome and irritatingly tenacious friend.

This morning, like so many others before, I plunked myself down in front of the computer to embark upon what has become an almost-daily ritual: closing out the supposed matches that one of my other online dating sites has delivered to me overnight.

Now, to be entirely truthful, since M3 came along in early December, none of these "matches" have even remotely piqued my interest, so the act of closing them is rather quite immaterial. Not wanting to hurt their feelings by checking the "Other" option and filling in the blank with the true sentiment that generally prevails upon reviewing their unimpressive credentials and unilaterally horrendous likenesses, I've tended to gravitate toward one of the more innocuous and who's-to-say-if-it-is-or-is-not-true options, like "The distance between us is too far" or "I'm currently taking a break from dating". Or, "you're totally hideous."

Today, feeling entirely confident for the very first time that M3's breakup is imminent, I took a decidedly different approach to letting this morning's crop of matches down easy.

"Sorry, but I'm pursuing another relationship."

Honesty is, after all, the best policy.