DEAR ABBY: I met a great guy two years ago. We have a lot in common. We both love family, our cultures and people in general. We're both compassionate. We care about each other, communicate often via e-mail and see each other a couple of times a year. This may sound like a cliche, but we connect on a "different" level. He understands me.
We aren't dating, but we're both interested in being together. There are few people in my life that I can truly say I have made an honest connection with, as opposed to something silly or a pipe dream. I know intimacy changes everything. He's the one person in my life I have wanted to share that with. I don't want to sound slutty, because he and I are not in a relationship. I know that makes things tough -- sex with no strings attached. What are your thoughts? -- "CONNECTED" IN ERIE, PA.
DEAR "CONNECTED": Sex without strings is sex with no commitment and little, if any, affection for the other party. Why, if you both feel this "connection," are you NOT dating? If your feelings are one-sided, you are heading for a painful fall. You're contemplating having sex on the gamble that the object of your affections will fall in love with you afterward. According to the mail I receive from both men and women, it doesn't usually turn out that way.