Last weekend my relationship with a musical boyfriend ended. I am a professional pianist, he works in TV, but is an excellent amateur pianist, and is so enthusiastic about piano that he has a Steinway. He knows more than I do about certain areas of piano playing, i.e. historic recordings etc, as is often the way with enthusiastic amateurs. I am so so upset that we broke up. I love him for who he is, not just because of his musical interests. I will never find anyone else like him. Someone else with his interest in piano might not be attractive to me, someone who is attractive to me may not know anything about piano. It is so important to me to be with someone who understands and values what I do, who can criticise my playing intelligently instead of being easily impressed, as my non-musician friends are. We go to concerts together, or used to, I should say, and it's so rewarding to be with someone who knows what they are listening to. And as he isn't a professional musician he doesn't have the insecurities, both financial and emotional, that go with the job. After a day at work, he can appreciate listening to me, instead of thinking "enough with the music, I've been playing all day". He was just perfect, and I will never find anyone like him again.