Either way, there is no mystery here to why this grey and flaxen haired baby-boomer with her bottle of Evian and her Reebok sneaker's is suddenly running after my man hoping like hell he'll settle in for a night of semi-passionate, semi-illicit flirting or more in which they can listen to the "oldies" station and maybe even do a few lines of coke while listening to Steve Windwood. She may even forgo her weekly highlights appointment for an afternoon of great sex, should the occasion arise, though it seems doubtful given that my husband is here telling me about the whole mess, and it is a mess.

Don't get me wrong. He did come to me with this quandary and told me the whole story, to his credit, and told me that he didn't know what to do about it because he a. didn't want to be rude, and b. didn't want to embarrass their mutual friend whom this person works with. So it puts us all in a rather awkward position that perhaps could have been avoided if she had been told in no uncertain terms from the get go that he is married. Taken. Or perhaps I should stamp this in indelible ink on his forehead, the way one marks books as one's own etc.

No. To so would be degrading. To treat one as property and lord knows, I do not view my husband as my property - he is a free agent, and if he saw fit even to go out with Miss Evian and her New York ways, then I would be the last person to stand in his way. I do not believe that love can happen by force. I believe in the old Maryland t-shirt saying, "If you love something, set it free..." and so on, with the little seagulls taking off in the background. That he has come to me with his quandary bodes well for the future and would seem to say that the will do the right thing by us.... note I do not say the Right thing with a capital R because there's no right or wrong here. There is only what is right for us; for him, it may be better to go off with Miss Reebok, who knows. Not I... but I can say that I doubt he will do that since he's been forthright, unless this is some sideways trick and I'm a fool.