Fidelity

Except for a few unmemorable moments of my, somewhat, feckless and reckless youth, I have always been safe around women. I think I am aging like a fine wine.

This is a little tale about me. It's not really a story, it's just one of life's many experiences and it helps define a person and what they feel inside. For the sake of anonymity, I will call my two friends in this story Dick and Jane.

I've known Dick and Jane for a long time and we are pretty close. We might see each other every two weeks now, sometimes more often, sometimes less, but the fact remains, we are still good friends. I think the older we get, the more activities we get involved in, where we don't see all of our friends as often as we used to. We probably are closer to family members, including children and grandchildren, and that sort of detracts from our outside influences a little. What was that line in a John Lennon song? "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans..." How true. Now, there was a man before his time. In my opinion, he was a man for all seasons.

About ten years ago, Dick was out of town on business. I ran into Jane and we had a nice conversation over drinks. May I add that Jane is a very attractive woman? Jane and I have always enjoyed each other's company, so I didn't feel uncomfortable in the least. As a matter of fact, the more we drank, the more relaxed we became with each other, until...

... Jane took my hand and pressed it firmly into her full and  supple breast. That took me by complete surprise.

"Dave, how come you never tried hitting on me? A lot of guys have, but never you. Why? Don't you find me attractive?" I gently and slowly pulled my hand away. It did not belong there.

"Of course I do. You're a total babe," I responded. "I just don't hit on my friends' women, and certainly, not married ones." She stared into my eyes. "You and Dick have been my friends for a long time now. You are my friend. Dick is my friend. I could not do this to him. I have too much respect for him and I have too much respect for you. Besides, I could never live with myself. You are both really good people."

Jane continued to look at me and finally said, "You know, Dave, you are an honorable man." I really thought I had already known that about myself, but it's always nice to hear. "That's one of the reasons why I love you so much." She meant that as a friend.

We continued with our drinks and put the incident out of our minds. Years later, I had the opportunity to do it again, but she was way too drunk and I was still an honorable guy. I drove her home one night and safely tucked her into bed, fully clothed. Today, I can proudly look Dick in the face and feel no guilt. No remorse. No pain. I'm sure he never heard anything about those incidents and I'm not about to ruin a very good friendship. With either of them.

Today, I can look in the mirror and stare at a respectful man. I like what I see.