The Shock of the New

How does one get rid of the memory of a lover? There is the inevitable period of apathy and convalescence. Respite is the appropriate word for this phase, as it means "a period of temporary delay" and relates to some Latin word for "looking back." Personally, "staring back morbidly" would be a more apt description of this post-relationship respite. Remaining in bed and watching re-runs of early '90s sitcoms and reading Sylvia Plath's Ariel are key factors in the respites of my life.

I dated a man this summer in Manhattan who ended up being part-wanker part-mimbo (a deadly combination). Maybe he simply filled a momentary void in my life. And maybe he was just a faint version of another person I've loved. Maybe we are all just living in Hitchcock's Vertigo and destined to make the same mistake twice.

Some people say I should delete him from my phone, ignore his calls, throw myself into my work, and realize that I only miss the idea of him. But something tells me that a respite only ends when there is a bright new Madeleine Elster in one's life.