Yeah, Razorback 713, I do think there is something of an emotional resonance with certain people... and certainly not only in the realm of romantic relationships. I've had very few friends through the years (so maybe not a good test subject for the theory! ), but one comes to mind immediately was just last year. Though he is not dx'd BP, there seemed to be elements of it for sure. We shared some major unusual traits, and I was soooo struck by the feeling that this person really understood a major part of me -- especially things revolving around a certain kind of creativity and, <cough> productivity fluctuations -- in a way no one ever had. Not to mention flip of a switch mood changes. He'd try to cover, but knowing it all too well, I could see the subtler signs that he couldn't hide. We were instantly fast friends, even though in other (non-emotional/creative) ways we were very different.

Ahh yes, and now to the romantic side... I was with my now ex for 25 (! gasp!) years (yeah, my fear of having to deal with the real world's *that* bad). Funny that even long before being dx'd, I always thought of him as "the rock". And me the unpredictable one that instigated every single (w/o exception) kooky thing over the years. I had a sense that this arrangement kept some weird kind of balance. BUT, though he was caring in his own way, he totally didn't get it. Cut from an entirely different sort of cloth, and very big on the "Just snap out of it" and "Just control yourself! It's not that hard!" admonitions. I tried sooo hard, but just couldn't. Also, and worst of all, he made "jokes" in REALLY poor taste about my problems. Won't repeat them here as they're very distressing in their (even *if* unintended) cruelty.

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