Looking out my Backdoor: Love in the treetops

A friend, a man who has been single for a number of years, wrote to say that he’s been feeling down in the mullygrubs. He said he’s probably just feeling lonesome. He’s considering jump-starting a romance, even though he thinks he might be headed the wrong direction.

I’m not one to sneer at romance in any form. My inclination, and I suspect my friend’s is likewise, is that when I meet somebody I tend to color in the blank spots to fit the pattern I want to see. That’s never worked for me yet.

Since I live in such a place and in such a way that I don’t meet available men, r...