Things are better if I stay....

Yes, believe it or not, I'm actually still alive and somewhat well... although I have been buried under a mound of papers thanks to this new life of sometimes teaching, most of the time disciplining young ones in east new york... but i thought i'd pop in and give an update for those of you that periodically check this site still and also ask for some advice about a situation that has arisen.

So, for those of you that remember soccer chick, she has been in NY this past week due to an uncle who had a heart attack and needed quadruple bypass surgery (strange because not a week before the Double K's (aka Triple A) father also needed bypass surgery) . After a very stressful night of picking her up at the airport and taking her to the hospital where I promptly met her entire family, who immediately expressed their joy in finally meeting me after hearing so many things, I am now seriously in a conundrum.

You see, we had agreed when she was here in August that we were going to keep things light, remain mostly unattached to each other and just enjoy the times when either of us can find the time to travel across this beautiful country of ours to see each other. but doesn't meeting the family (especially when they KNOW who you are) change the rules? i've done the long distance relationship, have no interest in doing it again. i'm not moving to SanFran, she's not moving here. so where exactly does that leave us? yeah, i'm not so sure either.

i do know that this past week (once i got over the extremely visceral reaction to being treated like a serious girlfriend) has been incredible. i also know that even though she's still here, i'm counting the days between now and when i head out there over winter break. But at the same time i'm perfectly aware that someone here is going to get hurt. the last thing i want is for it to be her that gets hurt, and i don't think my heart can take it twice in one year. so, this is when i turn to you, my ultimately faithful readers, what would you do?