Happy Valentine’s Day….from afar
I remember the first time I fell in love. I was about sixteen years old and so was she. High school and all the pressures of high school and growing from a child to an adult. What an awesome time in life. What a trying time in life. She was beautiful. She was sweet and funny, innocent and true. When I’d think of her my heart skipped a beat. I was under the spell. Bitten by the bug. She was all I could think about and all that mattered. We were sixteen. I can’t even remember what else was important back then. It wasn’t survival. Our parents cared for us back then. It was a simple life. We had no real responsibilities. There was no career to maintain, no mortgage to meet, no standard to set, and no family to raise. It was high school. My memory has faded over the years but I still remember how my heart warmed every time I thought about her and every time I knew that I’d get to see her. How we passed our little love notes back and forth and how we’d re-route ourselves so we could see each other between classes. I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.
She was on the track team. I was just a farm boy from the sticks. To this day I’m not sure how our lives crossed, who introduced us or how we originally came to know each other. It’s all a big blur and so much has happened since then. She wanted to settle down I think, like most people and raise a family after graduation. I just wanted to get out of school and run wild, and that’s what we did.
I moved back to Harrisburg and lived pretty much footloose and free and she got married and raised two sons in south Florida. A lot has happened to us both over the years. We’ve both lived through some pretty tough lessons. We’re both better people for learning them.
Here it is 33 years later and the strangest thing happened about a month ago. Through the power of the internet and Facebook we’ve re-connected. She’s still in Florida and I’m still in central Pennsylvania. We’re both single now. We chat every night on the net and call on the phone on the weekends, and I’ve realized something very surprising.
My heart still fills with warmth when I think about her. I look forward to her company every night. The laws of attraction and the forces of nature are apparently much more powerful that I’d ever imagined. She is still as beautiful, sweet, funny, innocent and true as she was when we met way back then. She still feels something for me too. I know she does. She’s coming to PA in March to visit family and we’ve carved out a few days to re-meet in person. I’m really looking forward to it. I can’t wait. I want to see her now. Today! I want to hug her so much right now on Valentine’s day but I can’t. We’re in positions where we can’t just up and travel 1000 miles at the drop of a hat. So I had to send someone in my place to do today’s hugging. I figured a really big bear would do the trick, and by the smile on her face, I think she liked it.
Neither one of us knows why this happened. Is this the master plan now that we’ve each done what we wanted to do earlier in our lives and now we’re supposed to be together again? Is this our destiny or is this some kind of other test, or hurtful life lesson like we’ve both endured so many times before? I’m not sure why this is happening but I am very glad that it is.
Happy Valentine’s Day Debbie. I wish I were the bear.