Also: what kind of relationship would that be, anyway? One cannot attain a goal which has not been defined.

Hmmm. I guess I want to be free to love, to be loved in return, to have what the books call "comapanionate love", to know that when life gets difficult, I'll have a ally, not an adversary or worse, a gap where soemone used to be right up until the shit hit the fan. Loyalty and getting through the hard stuff together is pretty important to me; fairweather friends and lovers can be found anywhere. I want to know that if I get cancer or some other kind of sick, someone will be there visiting me at the hospital...that if life deals me a blow, there will be comforting arms to enfold me....that sort of thing. :-/