and if I...

“and if I get melancholy, which can happen, I expect you to be my companion and solace me.”
- Ben Rumson (Lee Marvin) to Pardner (Clint Eastwood) Paint Your Wagon, 1969

Paint Your Wagon, in my opinion, is one of the greatest musicals ever. I don’t care that Lee Marvin didn’t have proper vocal training or that the songs are a little rough around the edges. It’s the rugged and the rough that make Paint Your Wagon so great.

I digress. Back to the quote. Everyone gets melancholy and when that happens, ideally every person would have a “pardner” to be their companion and solace them. In reality how many people really have that? There are times when I want nothing more than to be held by a man who loves me. I don’t want to talk, I don’t want to cry, I don’t want someone to solve my problems, I just want to be held and loved in comfortable silence. I’ve felt this need when I’m in a romantic relationship and when I’m not. What is it specifically that fulfills this companionship and solace that we all seek at one time or another? Why don’t we always get it from the ones that we love/love us most? Just a question. I don’t really know the answer. Do you?