One key similarity to M

On my morning walk, I realized there is a key similarity with the relationship with A2 and that with M:

In both cases, I was meeting more of the partner's needs, than she of mine.

Now, in M's case, the needs I was meeting were in part quite pathological and related to her illness and my tendency to "caretake".

In A2's case, it's a bit different.... hard to define. She needs an anchor relationship, but with soft hands emotionally.... She's not very in touch with her own emotional needs. And, frankly, the physical distance I think worked for quite a while because of the way it introduced an element of "arms-length" to the relationship. In other words, since she finds it alarming to be "too close", the lack of proximity worked for that.

On the other hand, I need to feel strongly connected emotionally, but without the neediness and pathologies of the past.