Young At Heart

She did write back and I was given a number to call. You know how you speak to those people for the first time and it's like finding an old friend again? Well, it wasn't anything comparable to that. It was like seeing the color of the sunset for the first time, like finally appreciating the beauty of the heavens. This surpassed anything I had ever experienced. Her laugh was like music that had been missing from my life for more years than I could count. We told each other stories, we made each other laugh. She listened to me, she heard me, she understood me. It was one of the most profound experiences of my life.

It was not all perfect, I think this was the time I told her my first lie, it would be one of many and they are today the biggest regrets of my life. They tore gaping holes in the trust she had for me. I was a fool. I would have said anything not to break this magical spell. I told her I had been separated for much longer than I actually had. She was so innocent, honest and open, and I lied.

By the time we were done speaking, it had been 4 hours. It felt like the blink of an eye. I didn't sleep that night, I was shocked by what had just happened. I wanted to tell someone, but there was no one to tell, so I paced around my apartment with a foolish grin on my face....and I no longer felt alone.

We spoke again the following evening and it was a repeat of the prior. It was decided that we would meet the next evening.

I parked around the corner of where I thought we were meeting as I was embarrassed that she should see my work truck, so I waited around the corner, leaning against a building waiting.

What happened next defies anything I could ever describe. The sun was behind her as she walked down the street toward me, it was a vision. I could see her hair and long coat blowing in the slight breeze. I glanced into her face and quickly looked to the ground as I was certain that my eyes were not seeing things for what they truly were. She hugged me and said hello. I looked into her face once more and saw my future. All my hopes, all the things I never dared feel. If the most beautiful music could be personified, it was now standing before me.

We lingered over dinner for hours. I was doing my very best to be entertaining. I was so enchanted by this person, Time stood still. We were the only two people in the world. I was lost in her voice, her laugh in who she is.

We left the restaurant and drove down to the water. We sat there at the edge of the Pacific Ocean and fell in love. We talked about or children, our successes and failures, we opened our hearts to each other, and she became a part of my soul that had never before existed. She held up her hand and my fingers interlaced with hers. Wordlessly, we two became one. The most intimate experience of my life. We kissed for the first time, everything but she and I melted away. I would give my very being to experience that moment again, to see that same look in her eyes, to know the euphoria that belonged to she and I. With every breath I take, I miss that moment more, the grains of my being leaving me forever.