This time I wouldn�t allow someone else to drag my heart around and do nothing to prevent him from hurting me. I needed a fool-proof plan where I�d be objective at all costs.

My checklist was born.

With 50 items on the list, I swore they would be non-negotiable. With each date I went on, I made mental checkmarks and noted where inadequacies laid. If you didn�t meet up to the standards, you were gone.

I met a man one night, and sparks flew. (Seriously. I have a picture to prove it.) We really hit things off, and we were both quickly and seriously smitten.

In this state, I chose to ignore my checklist. But no matter how wonderfully we clicked and just got each other, I still don�t want someone else�s kids. I don�t want a hunter as a boyfriend. I want someone with a similar childhood and viewpoints and philosophies.

After on-again/off-again for months, I finally wiped my hands clean and was done with it. I was settling. And really, what�s the point of that?

After a few weeks of back-and-forth emails with someone new, I finally met up with him. I knew little more than where he was from, what he did, that he was quite handsome, and that he made me laugh like crazy. For a date, this was enough.

Have you ever met someone for the first time after some build-up where you know that you�ll get along great and just have to make sure the physical attraction is there? When you both let out an internal YES! and SCORE!, you know that all is good and the evening can proceed? That was this night.

I didn�t want the night to end, but it eventually did with a soft goodnight kiss and an invite for a follow-up date. As far as first dates go, this was the top of the crop.

For several months we met up weekly, and things were just as wonderful as our first date. I forgot about the actual, physical checklist that I made years back, but no alarms went off in my head with this one.

Months and months later, long after I had grown into loving this wonderful man, I came across my original, hardcopy checklist. Staring back at me, there were fifty checks to be filled in. And there really was so much more then just those fifty items that made me stand back and say, �Wow. This is really it.�

Since no tangible problems exist and we�re two happy, independent people who join our lives whenever possible, why is it that my heart has taken a beating and I�m swearing off love for good?

I�m a believer in that when you know why you�ll break up, just do it. I didn�t see anything, but he apparently did.

So that�s it. No more Benito.

It�s a sad end to what I thought was a wonderful story. �