As I was sitting in the hospital chair I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering to the day I met her.
She was 21 and I was in the final year of my college. I never believed in love at first sight until I met her. With the sun shining behind her she looked like an angel walking down the stairs. I immediately found out what her name was thru one of her friends and all her other details. I stood at the same place at the same time everyday just to get a glimpse of her until one of my friends urged me to go and ask her out as the year was about to end.
I was shy by nature and dated very few girls in the past. I picked up my courage and introduced myself and before I could open my mouth to tell my name, she said “I know, you are Steve. You live in the Pine court subdivision and you are in your final year; tomorrow you have your last exams and you have been watching me for over 3 months now! “I was flabbergasted.
“Okay since you already know so much of information about me, can I take you out for dinner tomorrow night.”
“You have been waiting too long and I don’t want to say “NO”. But tomorrow soon after my exams I’m leaving for California. So shall we grab something to eat at the cafeteria now?”
She looked so beautiful and her eyes smiled when she smiled. My heart was beating fast and I could almost hear it. Blood rushed to my face and I knew my ears were turning red. That always happened when ever I was nervous.
She looked more confident than me; but at the same time she was down to earth. So we went to the cafeteria to eat lunch and she kept prodding me with questions about me and my life. I asked her how she found out about me and we were giggling soon enough.
She said she had had a good time and would see me tomorrow before she left. I was in cloud 9.
After my final paper was over there was a classroom party and it was past 5 o’clock whenI ran to her classroom but it was too late. I was in agony. I will not be returning to the college again and I was sure she would have forgotten all about me when she came back from her vacation. But deep inside I felt there was more between us. I felt like I had known her for a very long time and we belonged to each other. I missed her terribly and sighed.
I got a job in Staples and moved to North Carolina. I thought about her often. I had never thought about myself as a creative person but I started a journal and wrote poems in it. Poems about the pain and anguish of a lover waiting for a loved one to return. About waiting for that one love that feels so true that there is no pretense or no need for explanation. My book grew in size and my one date with her felt like eons away.
I dated many other girls after my friends started setting me up. I knew they thought that I was stupid pining for a women whom I got to talk to only once. But that one time never equaled to all the hours that I spent with countless other women.
She was just 3 hours away. I had contemplated many times to go to college and find her. But it was better to be in love with her in my mind and heart and poems than finding out she did not have the same feelings as I had for her.
I was fed up with my dates and refused to go out anymore when my friend begged me saying that this would be the last one. I agreed reluctantly and went to the restaurant. It was dimly lit and I was having goose pimples for no reasons. I, who had become immune to these blind dates, started feeling nervous. My heart started pounding when I saw that the girl that I was meant meet was already there waiting for me. I had purposely come 20 minutes late and so I hurried in with a big smile to apologize.
When she lifted her head, my head started spinning. I couldn’t believe that I had kept the one girl I had wanted to meet all these years waiting for 20 minutes. I kept nodding my head and couldn’t contain my happiness on seeing her.
“How are you?” she gleamed. I didn’t know my blind date would be someone I already knew.
“Me either. Did you wait for on that day?” I asked.
“I waited until my dad got so mad that he was almost going to take off without me. Why didn’t you come? I thought that the one date that you had with me had made you change your mind. I felt very bad though at that time, I felt we shared more than that one moment. I felt we were meant to be. I have never felt that way with anyone else so far.” She explained and looked up at me with tears sparkling in her eyes.
She looked as beautiful as the day that I had set my eyes on her. Now she was saying the things that I had rehearsed a 1000 times to tell her when I met her. Now I didn’t care if the whole world saw me, I was in love with this woman and never wanted to lose her again. I got down to my knee and proposed to her and asked her if she would marry me.
She nodded “YES” and the kiss that we shared that night in front of 100 people sealed our life together.
We got married that summer. I got my book of poems published and dedicated to her. We have spent nearly half a century together. During this time we have fought many battles and made many peace treaties. We have travelled around the globe and experienced the wonders of nature together. We have had 2 kids as a proof of our love; Stood by each other during all the crest and troughs of life; seen our bodies transform with time. But nothing changed our love for each other.
Today may be time will finally win. Time was asking me to believe that my love can cross the boundaries of this physical world.
So I walked into the ICU again. Now it was for me to decide whether I wanted her to be tied to these tubes so that I can continue seeing her or let her go and believe that I will be meeting her soon.
I held her hands and spoke to her. I said I didn’t want her to suffer anymore and will meet her soon. I nodded my head to the doctor and held her hands.
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