“Your letter gave me more delight than any thing in the world but yourself could do; indeed I am almost astonished that any absent one should have that luxurious power over my senses which I feel. Even when I am not thinking of you, I receive your influence and a tenderer nature steeling upon me.”

—POET JOHN KEATS, IN AN 1819 LETTER TO HIS BELOVED, FANNY BRAWNE, TWO YEARS BEFORE HE DIED AT THE AGE OF 25, STILL LARGELY UNKNOWN

When you were first online, did you have email romances? I did. For a couple of years. They were exciting to the point that I would check for mail obsessively. Click. Check. Click. Check. Seconds apart, not even waiting for the minute.

One of them developed into a five year fling that ended (I’m not making this up) because I didn’t want to commit to anything. That five years encompassed a divorce, as it did for my penpal, but I was not ready to get married again, and at the time was NEVER going to remarry.

But things change! Feelings always change. At least mine do. My feelings are never static, and what I hated once may not even raise my hackles now – and what once made me pant with lust (for example, my five year friend) delivers no charge today.

And I’ve remarried.