Thanks. That surprises me as you strike me as a very independent and dynamic person. Speaking of which - to totally switch directions - I just wanted to thank you for your honest and polite answers. You have been a real gem. Frankly, I wonder - maybe more than I need to - about what my questions make me - and my gf - sound like. I wonder if you and others think, "These two are rather unusual, to say the least." Truth be told, my gf and I are more like Ward and June Cleaver than anything from an R (or X) rated movie. As I am sure you are tired of hearing, I love my gf with all my heart. She came into my life at a time when I had really hit bottom, and she was understanding and loving and compassionate and I can never repay the love she has shown me. As to my kids, I am a 100% certified miksop. It is almost painful to watch. (Somewhat literally, I like to make funny faces to make my daughter (age 4) laugh, and my gf just rolls her eyes and say's, "Honey, if you keep doing that your face is going to stay that way forever." My gf is probably right - she usually is - but I'll risk it just to hear my little angel giggle and see her smile. As for the boys, they are the lights of my life. The little guy (6) is a snuggler and hugger and he always makes me feel like a super-hero. The older boy (7) would rather walk through obstacles rather than around them, and he gives me gray hair - and I would not have it any other way.) So as you can see, I am a pretty conventional guy, but my gf and I decided we were happier without all the trappings of marriage, and we just so happen to really enjoy our sex life. How that comes out sounding in these pages, though, I can't say. So I really want to thank you - and ladyEmma if she has been reading this. You've both been great to talk with and have given my gf and I some perspective on our own sex life. Thanks so much.

I would be a pretty poor person if I criticized or made light of another couple's successful relationship. I say more power to you and I mean both of you. No don't think you are unusual in the least. Only in that you are willing to talk more honestly about these personal things than a lot of men would even want to. As for kids I never had any of my own so my experience is limited to teenage babysitting and sitting friend's youngsters the last several years. And now Gerry's oldest's boy - one and a half years old.. Which makes me a "step-grandmother"! Nor do I think of myself as at all typical, although everything I feel I have learned billions of other women feel as well though very few in the same combination as me. Just reading the answers I make and Emma's answers you can see the significant generational differences as well. She was just as boy-crazy as I was though more sensitive and responsive while I was the acid-head who ran away from home. We both reached out to other's through sex though she found a wonderful husband early on while I was never really "marriage material" in a number of ways and it was important to me to learn how to make my own way in the world as I did not see that any man would ever want to take care of me. Thank you.