Musings.. I muse..

I had a most fun weekend here in Melbourne with my mate from school - stayed over at hers and she showed me around the city and the good places to shop and so on and so forth. She insisted she wants to live with me if I ever move to Melbourne to do my Masters - she currently lives with her boyfriend. He's 20, she's 23 and the arrangement is clearly not working out because she is having to mother him through life.

I went to a rather good school where the kids always enjoyed a plush lifestyle and never for once did I think that anyone else - except a few noted exceptions - actually had to struggle to survive after they left home. (Most don't - they plunder their parents money on weekend binges). So when I met my mate again after a year and a half I was heartbroken to find out her situation. She's dropped out of uni and is playing house with this dude. She works in a pancake shop from 5pm to 1am or 10 am to 5pm, 5 days a week. All money she earns goes to paying the rent + utilities and nothing is left for her to enjoy life or buy something for herself. He doesn't let her keep any friends because he's ultra possessive. Although he can go out in the night, she cannot. He treats her as if she's there to do his laundry and clean up after him and overall, it was purely awful to see someone in that state! She can't leave him because she's been with him for 6 years and has no idea of life without him and feels she doesn't have a good enough support network in Melbourne to actually make it on her own and more than that, everytime she says she wants to leave he threatens to ruin his studies or commit suicide!!

Talk about checkmate!

So, I am here rambling about this to figure out why do some men/boys behave like this? Is it difficult to conduct such a serious relationship with someone younger than you at this age? Why do women put up with it? I say now, I would never put up with it but then we all saw how low I fell thanks to my ex over the summer! It takes all the will one has to not run for one's life when one sees a potential partner approaching after hearing and seeing these stories.

How is it that in some relationships love grows from nothing? And in some, the love that was so strong dwindles into nothing? We are back at the same argument about taking for granted! When we grow to believe someone is always going to be there, we automatically manage to stop putting in that much effort and value into little things. Its human nature but it cannot be used as an excuse. If that is the case, then is it not important that we marry our best friends? Someone who we know is going to love us and take care of us and treat us well because they place such importance on our happiness?

In life, we can't live long enough to make all the mistakes. We got to learn from other's mistakes too. As I told my mate, when we look back on our lives we will see the many opportunities we had to make a choice - the different decision that would have changed the course of our life! - and we get this chance very often. So to make sure she makes the choices that she will be proud of when she looks back. And do whats best for her. Because at the end of the day, we are all we have.