Mastering the Art of the F-Word

The city is filled with women I know that are notorious for jumping head first into something...me included. Stuck in a bubble of bliss we're clouded with thoughts that a new Mr. Potential could possibly be Mr. Perfect. Nothing could be wrong with him. Passion and hormones prevail and before we know it we're laying next to someone breathless and in a misty afterglow after only date #3. Should I have waited longer? Maybe this is the perfect time to master the art of the f-word...

This all began during my first nights of Italy after the tarantula got a hold of me. Looking for comfort, communication began with someone from back home. Offering a few helpful sexy food therapy tips, I kindly said I'd accept payment in the form of my favourite dip-me-up cappuccino treat, biscotti. Through back and forth notes, I realized that Mr. Biscotti while successful with his current career, had a tough go at life in the past and was still dealing. Throwing away his black book several months prior, he wasn't looking for casual, but certainly wasn't ready for a relationship. Mr. Biscotti in fact, was stuck in the grey, in the middle and in the eye of the storm...with none other than himself. A process he felt he needed to tackle on his own.

After three weeks of communication, I arrived back home and was greeted with biscotti ("food": f-word #1). We began to hang out where intensity made the air thin and breath became shallow. Lips pressed firmly together drove a rush to the toes and I began to realized, I have to hold back.

This isn't a date #3 story.
There hasn't been sex and there won't be...I refuse to feel empty.

Throwing temptation to the ground and lifting will to the highest heavens, I was convinced we were going to master the art of being friends (f-word #2). However just as Mr. Biscotti lived in the grey, I realized that life around me was being washed with the same colour. We weren't typical friends. So when he decided to kiss someone at a bar prior to my arrival and lie about doing so...it puts fire in my belly.

[Enter flowers and f-word #3]
Breathe Melissa...

Coincidentally giving him tips about the same thing several days prior, I noticed...God, I have heartburn. What am I not digesting...

LEMONY ALOE SEXY ELIXIR
1 cup water
1 ounce aloe gel (inner fillet)
Juice from 1/2 organic lemon

Combine all ingredients and drink on the onset of heartburn or upon wakening as a morning tonic.

It's a little confusing going into the healthfood store and seeing an array of aloe gels and juices. I have always found that for issues with heartburn or ulcerations, the gel has a better coating and soothing effect. Dating back to the Egyptian pharaohs, the gel was used medicinally for a wide range of purposes, including embalming the dead...oye! In Chinese Medicine, aloe is a yin tonic, it clears heat in the system, particularly stomach heat which when coupled with lemon does even a better job. Although lemon may come across as being acidic on the outside, it's property on the inside is purely alkaline. Drinks like peppermint, while cooling does have the tendency to relax and open up the cardiac phincter creating acid reflux to propel upwards even more so. In addition, aloe drinks should be used with caution by pregnant women due to its ability to stimulate the uterus.

While there are many thoughts behind the physical causes of acid reflux, we have to question the mind-body connection. In my case maybe I can't digest this situation...maybe I need to walk away. Or maybe, I'm attracting emotionally unavailable men because to some degree maybe I am as well.

Drinking this down, I thought about Mr. Biscotti, my f-riend...
[Melissa takes a couple of steps back]

Clearly, I have mastered the art of various f-words but somehow I still have heart for Mr. Biscotti, so this doesn't mean I'm walking away...just yet. However, with that said, I'm certainly not going to close off doors to someone new just because I'm waiting for one from Mr. Biscotti to open up. Patience has never been a virtue of mine and truthfully, in the long run, I'm a little too colourful to be playing in a state of grey.