Dear Maura: He loves soccer more than me

Dear Maura: MY boyfriend loves his favourite soccer team, Liverpool, more than me. It’s all he ever talks about. If a player gets injured or they lose — not that often I know — then it takes ages for him to get over this. He doesn’t want to go out or anything. My mam thinks it’s great that a man has a hobby and I’ll be glad to get rid of him for a weekend if I marry him. I don’t look at marriage like that. We have been together for a year and haven’t done much. If this did develop into something, then I would want more. I’m 27 and he’s 26. I read a lot, love art and would really like to go to the theatre more often. I’ve talked to my boyfriend about this, and as a joke he said he’d go to a musical if it was about Liverpool. Sorry? Is he capable of a relationship? The thing is, I can be a bit serious — my friends tell me this all the time. So I’m hanging in here because I think he could be good for me. I’m an only child and a bit sheltered. Still, he’s so different. What do you think? Answer: Have you gone to a Liverpool match yet? I hope you have in order to give yourself an idea of what your boyfriend is passionate about. I think ultimately you must really feel that this is for you. I sense that you are critical of yourself and look at this boyfriend as a way of opening up experiences for you. Maybe this is a situation that you don’t rationalise too much, that you just go with and enjoy. Certainly, you need to have an input on how you socialise but try not to control too much. Take this relationship to a point where you feel you have developed in a way you didn’t think you ever could. Then you decide to get off or keep going with this guy.