Much longer conversation, Kasey, but "connection" was the keyword in my last relationship, the one that I wrote about occasionally between 2021-2023. My partner was articulate in what connection meant to her, and she opened a new way of understanding it that I simply had not known before.

She walked away from our relationship last October. I'm still a bit raw after the suddenness and silence with which she left, but I carry the things I learned with me.

However, I don't think I have a hard and fast rule as to when physical intimacy should enter a relationship, or what it achieves when it happens. It can trigger an "Oh my God, what have I done?" reaction or initiate deeper connection. Kind of depends on the people and the situation. I'll just say that I'm with you that the connection is more important than the sex--I'm just not always sure of the overlap or the cause-and-effect relationship of the two.

In other words, there's a lot I still don't know, dang it.

Always great chatting with you, Kasey.