Really enjoying this. Now I know why I joined Mingle2 :)

Here are a couple that a friend in England had delivered to her:

"See this face? It's leaving in 5 minutes. Be on it."
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"How do you like your eggs in the morning?"
(She answered: unfertilised)
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And here's one a girl used on me 3 years ago:
Her: Everyone has to have a sin. You don't drink and you don't smoke. So it's chocolate or sex. There's a Kit Kat in my bag. Meet me at my room at 10 in the morning and tell me if you want the Kit Kat."

My closest friend is 66 and his daughter is 7. When he told me his wife was pregnant, I tried to be positive. And the daughter is great... but the mother walked out on him and now he's a single father. And in the last 7 years he has aged a lot. 66 is not old, but he is an old 66. What bothers me, is what happens in 10 years when she wants to bring her first boyfriend home to meet dad, but dad is busy being washed by carers. Sorry, that sounds cynical, but I can see it coming. And she's my goddaughter, so I'm going to be playing the father role in a few years time.
Kind of OT, but related.

It's the fascination of the exotic, isn't it? And perhaps the hope that they may just be different and offer a gateway into a nicer or different life, or finally not treat me like I have seen before.
ALSO:
I'm odd. I feel odd. I don't feel like I quite fit in or am normal in my culture. Or maybe it's my family. So when I get together with someone from another culture, they won't notice and I won't feel stupid any more. I feel safe in relationships across cultures.

Hey, there was a time I wanted to have "dated" a woman from every decade that was younger than my mother and still legal. It was one of those testosterone-driven things in my early 30s.
For me, there are obvious concerns when you think about growing old together, i.e. if it is to be a long-term or lifelong thing, which these days is my aim when I start a relationship (I at least want to see if it can be that, and if I realise it can't then I'm outta here, because I don't have time to waste with flings). How will I feel when I am retired and my girl is still going out to work for another 20 years. How will she feel? Or how will I feel if I'm 50 and it's time to discuss aged care for my 80+ partner?
But this doesn't mean I can't and don't feel attraction - mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically - for younger or older. My serious relationships have spanned an age range of +7 to -11, and age was never an issue in any of them. Neither for me nor for her. Both have positive and negative aspects, and really, the maturity and ability to share comes down to the person.

Best relationships I have ever had have been cross-cultural. I can't imagine anything else ever working again.
It forces us to keep listening and be open to learn – and let's face it, these are things that most of us tend to forget eventually in a relationship, when we begin to take our partner or our relationship for granted.
Also, it's a great way to overcome the barrier after a disagreement: "I think this is a cultural thing, honey, and that's why we're not understanding each other. Can we take a step back." Of course, in the end you both have to apologise and mean it, but this can help.
I personally believe that every connection between two people on this planet (except siblings) is cross-cultural. We just don't realise how much we are influenced by our intimate socialisation: family, where we lived, school, etc. And we assume that people from our own culture will see the world as we do. By really crossing the social boundary we force that into our awareness.

Preach it, sister. That's the point. But Hollywood doesn't tell us that.
If you don't know each other well as friends, how can you ever get through the tough times that come in a relationship. Because when those tough times come, it's being best friends that makes it last. Not being lovers-at-war.

I have had four such friendships with women in my life. Let me tell you how each developed over time:
1) eventually she got a boyfriend who didn't like her closeness to me, and so we drifted apart; I left town, etc. 11 years later (yes, 11 years) she phoned me and apologised and admitted she had always wanted to be with me but was afraid that true friendship and romantic love were not compatible, because this seems to be what society and films, books, etc. tell us all the time. By this stage, although I still was happy to hear and I care for her as a person, it was too late for me as I was in a happy relationship. P.S. she had just found out she was terminally ill when she called...
2) known each other since childhood, I even spent a year when I had to leave home living with her family, and she was like a sister. One day she simply said that she couldn't pretend any more and of course she felt a lot for me. Unfortunately, we were both married by then.
3) a colleague who of course just wants to be close friends, but this became friends-with-benefits, after which she feels bad because she can't allow herself to have a relationship with me. I've put a stop to that now.
4) colleague, later after I left the company we remained friends and used to help each other through relationship problems by talking. It could and would never go anywhere. Except... in the end we were the love of each other's life and it is only because of circumstances outside our control that we cannot be together now.
What am I saying? It may be that it really is what she says. But it may also be that there are other things holding her back, such as the idea that friendship may get lost. Whatever you do, don't obviously try to win her... but if you feel the need, don't just have a "I feel this, but I'll accept if you don't" conversation. Talk it all through and ask her to really think about what she does and doesn't feel for you.

Well... yes and no :)

There's "ich liebe dich" and "ich habe dich lieb". And both are appropriate in relationships, yet the meaning is slightly different. I guess "ich liebe dich" is like "I love you deeply" or something similar. There's a much more intense commitment implied, or should be. But even when it is the case, you can say "ich habe dich lieb" as well, because it is a different thing and also worth saying. It's the "you are very special to me, I care about you – in that sense: I love you" thing.
You can say "ich habe dich lieb" much earlier in a relationship, and you should pay attention never to cheapen "ich liebe dich" by saying it too often.

Elizabethen Quartet