Ships That Pass in the Night

We were only a couple of kids who knew each other from piano lessons and being in the same grade in elementary school. In junior high, we could talk easily and be completely open. We thought similarly and had the ability to follow each other in bizarre conversations, instinctively knowing what the other's point was. We didn't appreciate a connection such as that at the age of 13 or 14, didn't know how rare it was, didn't realize it signified anything of importance.

Then when the class moved to the new high school in the fall of 1967, he was gone. I never knew exactly where he was, but discovered he had graduated at Lee High in Huntsville.

I saw him last when we shared an English class at UAH in the spring of 1974, not long before we graduated with B.A.s in English in 1974. I didn't see his face or hear his voice again for almost 38 years. By then we were both different people, until we met face to face.
He found me after 45 years from when he was my first love. He came to my house to visit and we haven't stopped talking since.

Our lives have run in parallels since we were children. While I was busy marrying unsuccessfully, he was also living in unspoken misery. Who would have thought we'd still be finding things we shared?

When he appeared in my doorway all I could think was "My Lord, the hurt deep in his eyes is a look I see in my mirror every day".

He was blessed with children. I was not. If only I'd had the opportunity to have his child, it would have been the only one I can truthfully say I would ever have wanted to have.

Then, just because I'm 58 years old, I received a miracle. An honest-to-God miracle. He loves me still and I love him above any person, place or thing in my life. I love him in ways too many to count but in addition, there is also admiration and respect. I needed that and he has given me all I ever wanted.

I dream of waking each morning to those bottomless brown eyes that stir me so. And it was hard to admit for awhile, (considering the caution with which I now treat any man in my life), but the truth is that I've never loved anyone more. Sometimes the fairy tale does come true.

He is my fairy tale. The white knight on the horse. The perfect companion and sweetheart. The miracle I still had in the back of my mind, locked away safely so I never again was hurt taking a chance.

It wasn't a chance. It was a finally fulfilled promise. And this time it's my turn.

I love you, Gene, for making my life complete in every way. It's only taken us 45 years...all the rest belong to you.