The past comes tumbling back
I met up with an old friend/flame a couple weeks ago. It was a trip down memory lane for us both, bittersweet and enjoyable. We'd been out of touch for 16 years-half my life!
Our interaction back then was in 1996, spanning the city I grew up in (where we met through a classmate of mine, on Valentine's day, no less) and then the small town where my parents and I moved a few months after we met, and thus made the relationship long distance. He dropped out of touch after we'd met up again when I visited my hometown and we spent a couple afternoons together, and I never heard from him again.
My childhood best friend kept asking me about him, and a couple months ago, she got me thinking about him so much that I actually did an extensive Facebook search, and added the one candidate who kinda sorta looked like the man I remembered. I was 16, he was 24. We're now 32 and 40, so I was not sure if I was even friending the right person. When a response was NOT forthcoming for many weeks, suffice it to say I assumed I had made a mistake, and I canceled the request.
Then, suddenly, I got a request from the same person, recently. Turned out it WAS him-he lives in China where FB is banned and he could not respond to my request! My privacy settings are such that I cannot just be found, so he did a lot of detective work, finally finding me via my mom's profile!
And because the universe is a wild n wacky place, he was not just visiting the country, he was IN my city and very sweetly made the time to meet up. We talked on the phone for a couple hours and then met up the following day, and what a good time we had! It was as good if not better, than old times :)
He explained his reasons for disappearing on me, we caught up on life and happenings of 16 years and yes, we spent a good deal of time rehashing our old times. He admitted he had been quite crazy about me and fallen hard, and had thought of me often, over the years. And it was surely an ego boost to be told that I made such an impression on someone, that too half my life ago. I knew he had liked me more than I had liked him, at that point, but never knew how deep an impression I'd made!
Anyways, it made me go on a nostalgia trip and when I went home this weekend to visit the parentals, I found a copy of the Literary Magazine I had written for in college, where I had submitted and won for a piece I had written about the one date he and I ever went on (we used to hang out at my place, since my mum was not about to send her 16 year old out and about with a man of 24). Below is that piece, written with all the emotion and sentiment a 16 year old had to offer!
That Afternoon
In my mind, I had decided.
It would be an afternoon of fun,
Of shared jokes and laughter.
A time to dance and sing,
To tease and be teased.
It was to be an airy, casual date.
These, of course, were my preconceived notions.
What happened?
Well,
It was an afternoon of fun,
We did all the things I thought we would.
Yet,
There was something different...
It was the mood: casual,
And then, serious.
An afternoon of fun and frolic,
Took on a deeper meaning.
Light flirtation took on a stronger note
Laughter, shrieks and mischief,
Turned into soft smiles, silent whispers and exchanged glances.
The end of the afternoon brought with it, Goodbye.
But, only in the physical sense.
I can't talk to him now.
I can't see him.
But, I think of him.
And that is where the afternoon changed.
I never meant for it to be anything,
Except a fleeting moment in a fun filled time.
But, it become the moment.
The one that is in my thoughts,
Along with the person who shared those few hours with me.
In the beginning, I was flippant,
Taking neither him nor his words seriously.
But, in the end, triumph was his.
I find it hard to give my trust and affection.
He has them now.
Time alone will tell,
What the future holds for us.
IF the future holds something for us,
Together...
It will depend, on us and circumstances,
Seen, and Unforeseen.
For now,
I have cherished memories of a wonderful time.
And dream of more to come!
Our interaction back then was in 1996, spanning the city I grew up in (where we met through a classmate of mine, on Valentine's day, no less) and then the small town where my parents and I moved a few months after we met, and thus made the relationship long distance. He dropped out of touch after we'd met up again when I visited my hometown and we spent a couple afternoons together, and I never heard from him again.
My childhood best friend kept asking me about him, and a couple months ago, she got me thinking about him so much that I actually did an extensive Facebook search, and added the one candidate who kinda sorta looked like the man I remembered. I was 16, he was 24. We're now 32 and 40, so I was not sure if I was even friending the right person. When a response was NOT forthcoming for many weeks, suffice it to say I assumed I had made a mistake, and I canceled the request.
Then, suddenly, I got a request from the same person, recently. Turned out it WAS him-he lives in China where FB is banned and he could not respond to my request! My privacy settings are such that I cannot just be found, so he did a lot of detective work, finally finding me via my mom's profile!
And because the universe is a wild n wacky place, he was not just visiting the country, he was IN my city and very sweetly made the time to meet up. We talked on the phone for a couple hours and then met up the following day, and what a good time we had! It was as good if not better, than old times :)
He explained his reasons for disappearing on me, we caught up on life and happenings of 16 years and yes, we spent a good deal of time rehashing our old times. He admitted he had been quite crazy about me and fallen hard, and had thought of me often, over the years. And it was surely an ego boost to be told that I made such an impression on someone, that too half my life ago. I knew he had liked me more than I had liked him, at that point, but never knew how deep an impression I'd made!
Anyways, it made me go on a nostalgia trip and when I went home this weekend to visit the parentals, I found a copy of the Literary Magazine I had written for in college, where I had submitted and won for a piece I had written about the one date he and I ever went on (we used to hang out at my place, since my mum was not about to send her 16 year old out and about with a man of 24). Below is that piece, written with all the emotion and sentiment a 16 year old had to offer!
That Afternoon
In my mind, I had decided.
It would be an afternoon of fun,
Of shared jokes and laughter.
A time to dance and sing,
To tease and be teased.
It was to be an airy, casual date.
These, of course, were my preconceived notions.
What happened?
Well,
It was an afternoon of fun,
We did all the things I thought we would.
Yet,
There was something different...
It was the mood: casual,
And then, serious.
An afternoon of fun and frolic,
Took on a deeper meaning.
Light flirtation took on a stronger note
Laughter, shrieks and mischief,
Turned into soft smiles, silent whispers and exchanged glances.
The end of the afternoon brought with it, Goodbye.
But, only in the physical sense.
I can't talk to him now.
I can't see him.
But, I think of him.
And that is where the afternoon changed.
I never meant for it to be anything,
Except a fleeting moment in a fun filled time.
But, it become the moment.
The one that is in my thoughts,
Along with the person who shared those few hours with me.
In the beginning, I was flippant,
Taking neither him nor his words seriously.
But, in the end, triumph was his.
I find it hard to give my trust and affection.
He has them now.
Time alone will tell,
What the future holds for us.
IF the future holds something for us,
Together...
It will depend, on us and circumstances,
Seen, and Unforeseen.
For now,
I have cherished memories of a wonderful time.
And dream of more to come!
