Virginity preserved as "time like months in an unworn sweater wore holes " in a relationship

 In his  terrific book  Gossip,  Joseph Epstein differentiates between the  various ways  gossip  has emerged and  the various ways  it's  retailed  and  can be interpreted.   In  a chapter  on the way gossip has gone public  and  how,  in an  age  of  celebrity  and  "with-it-ness"  (a term to which he devotes a whole  chapter in his equally terrific   Snobbery in America) at any cost,  he  details  how gossip has  gone public.  He  touches on  people  who,  rather than  avoiding being gossiped about,   invite  gossip about themselves --     and even  tell things about themselves most people wouldn't  think of  publicizing.  

A  feature in the  November 17th  New York Times,  "Does My Virginity Have a Shelf Life?"   by  a free lance writer named Amanda MC Cracken is a case in point.    McCrackin  details  why and  how she's held onto her  virginity.  The  35-year-old virgin,  has   nevertheless  had  all manner of   intimate encounters with men (short of  penetration).    Her  self-gossip  piece, which I suppose you could call  a case of  self-gossip   includes  memories of  one  of two men  for whom she came close to taking her  virginity "off the shelf."  The man in the case was a soldier with whom she had an epistolary romance.  She met him once and   they  ""continued to meet and fell in love, but a series of long deployments over a couple of years kept us from having sex."  She further explains it with this simile.

 Distance and time, like moths in an unworn sweater, wore holes in the relationship, until it unraveled.

Mr.  Epstein would also  cite  the paper of  record's   giving space to a more gossipy than newsworthy  item   as  another example  of   how  much   even the most highly reputed newpapers  have  tripped into the  footsteps  of  the  gutter press.