Now, for me, the ideal relationship contains something more. After all, I love (completely trust and completely respect) about a dozen people... most notably my daughter. No, the ideal relationship entails romance and, to a degree, lust. If my partner is the only person I fantasize about, that's the real thing. Four years ago I told my partner that a woman's body should be as a river: familiar to the eye, but new to each touch. I still feel that is true and long for the day I find the last woman I will ever love. She will be my best friend, my biggest fan... her heart will flutter when we sing or dance with each other... we will more than satisfy any of each other's desires... and she will be treated as royalty and feel she is the luckiest woman in the world to have found me. I will make her happier than she's ever been in her life and do so for the rest of her days. Who or where she is, I haven't a clue... but secretly I keep faith I will find her.

I know that you, too, secretly hope to find your special partner as well... someone you can hold (or be held by) every night... someone with whom you share your deepest intimacies and desires... someone who respects who you were, are, and will become... someone you're proud to show off and be seen with everytime you're out together and someone you know is not only faithful but actually brags about you when you're apart. (I told you I feel a certain kinship!)

So, who will that man be? If you're looking for a rich mechanic, you'll wind up nothing but his little fuck-puppet. I wrote last night that I know you've more expectations in a man than we had time to discuss at work. Allow your mind to wander about those expectations as you read on....

Your main goal in life is to make it big in broadcast journalism. I believe you can do it if you work for it. Please don't take this badly, but I don't know if you will... people's goals change over time... yet I truly do believe you have the ability to attain any goal you set for yourself. Jones Law #4: Never lower your standards. If you do choose to attain that goal, how will your partner help you achieve it?

Your secondary goal, then, is to get back into school and get your degree. This, I know, you're taking steps to achieve. Again, in selecting a potential partner, how does he help you get there?

I have high hopes for you, Ashley, and would hate to see you hurt or disappointed in any way. You have so many positive things working for you... the idea is to keep them working for you and to not take them for granted. As examples: