Dear Prudence,
I am in my early 30s, and while I’ve had a couple longish relationships with varying levels of success, I have been single much of my adult life. I spent the bulk of my 20s happily traveling and developing a great career. I’ve done a fair amount of “expiration dating” and have come out of those experiences with long-term, long-distance friends and lovers. Recently I’ve been looking for something stable and more long-term. Despite this, I took a two-month assignment in a different state for the summer. My temporary city is charming; the work I am doing is important to me; and I’ve met someone who is kind, handsome, and great in bed.
But my time here is coming to a close, and I think I have caught a bad case of feelings for this person. Our relationship has always had an end date. It’s hard to know if that chemistry and companionship would linger after the glow of a perfect summer fades. Even if we both wanted to pursue this, my home is 2,000 miles away. I don’t think we have a strong enough foundation to try to make long-distance work. He seems fairly committed to living in this area for the rest of his life, and while I’ve loved my summer here, I simply don’t know if I would be willing or able to uproot myself. But I’ve never felt this strongly about my previous expiration dates. Is it worth talking to him about these feelings? Or should I simply enjoy the time we have left and let our lovely summer fling become a fond, and eventually distant, memory?
—Summer Days Drifting Away