round
Sometimes it amazes me the things that come and go, leaving you wondering if you'll ever experience them again. I wonder about people I used to know or people with whom I shared adventures, hard times and fun times, or just time itself. In the past few weeks I've been reminded of how things come back around when you least expect them. I can't do justice to the details of these events and people and places converging, diverging and crossing again, but two events in particular will help me express my curiosity and gratitude for all those serendipitous moments.
1. boy Y
I was in high school, a senior, when I finally met this boy I'd been hearing about. He was funny and smart and cute, and foreign. We'll call him boy Y. We only met for one night, several family friends were over for a post-rafting-trip feast and slumber party. We ate and laughed and told stories till late. Then we all settled down and my sister, Chamise, Cayenna boy Y and I were all piled into my room for the night.
It turned out to be an amazing one. boy Y and I shared quiet, excited conversation, giggles and a few kisses. Needless to say, as I was in high school, my crush continued long after he left. He was living in a different state, and though he was a friend of a very good friend, we never really spoke after that. I would wonder about him often, and would imagine us being together someday in the future, as many humans tend to do with their girl- or boy-hood crushes.
He was, according to my LONG list, "the perfect man". I don't recall what was on that list at the time, but he held a special little spot in my heart for a long time.
Many many years have gone by (12 to be exact), and the list has changed substantially. I have changed and along with it the memory, slowly fading to short snippets: the train whistle in the distance, my friends' sleeping breath, the laughter at the dinner table.
I hadn't forgotten that night, no, but I certainly hadn't thought about it in quite a while. Until a couple days ago, when he found me online. What was so wonderful about it wasn't that I'd found my long lost perfect man, (I already found that one), but that we could talk about that night, and how the one evening together stayed with the both of us, and never really diminished in importance, it just changed.
I think for me, the fact that I never heard from him added to the mystery, and the fantasy of someday being with him. I think it also gave me hope that there really was someone out there that I could love, that could fulfill every item on the perfect man list. Today it is a reminder of my journey through relationships, friendships and time, it reminds me that things come back around. It reminds me that 12 years is an eternity, and also a very short amount of time.
2. de la selva
In undergrad i studied in Ecuador. I played in the jungle, swung from the vines and experienced it all with a friend called Kyle. Kyle happened to be very good friends with a girl called Laura B. I didn't know Laura B. at all, but when I returned home, I needed a place to live, and Kyle hooked me up with Laura B.
Kyle introduced me as De La Selva: my Ecuadorian name meaning "of the jungle" like George of the Jungle. We lived together for two.5 years after that. We had a grand time. We went salsa dancing almost every night. I made and drank my first (illegal) margaritas with her. I went to her wedding. Then we graduated.
We have done a sad job of keeping in touch in the last 8 years, although, admittedly she has done a much better job than I. She moved as far away as you can possibly move, while still being in the same country, well, almost. I expected to never see her again.
I would receive the occasional Christmas or birthday card, and I would smile, Then set it aside intending to write back. But I rarely did. Two years ago I managed a long long letter describing all my adventures of the prior 5 years and asked as many questions as I could think of, and hoped to hear back. No letter came.
Until a couple weeks ago when I got my Christmas card... and a long email explaining that she is back in Oregon, (Corvallis, where we went to school). Corvallis! I just applied to go to grad school there! We may be salsa dancing like crazy again soon.
crazy how the world goes round.
1. boy Y
I was in high school, a senior, when I finally met this boy I'd been hearing about. He was funny and smart and cute, and foreign. We'll call him boy Y. We only met for one night, several family friends were over for a post-rafting-trip feast and slumber party. We ate and laughed and told stories till late. Then we all settled down and my sister, Chamise, Cayenna boy Y and I were all piled into my room for the night.
It turned out to be an amazing one. boy Y and I shared quiet, excited conversation, giggles and a few kisses. Needless to say, as I was in high school, my crush continued long after he left. He was living in a different state, and though he was a friend of a very good friend, we never really spoke after that. I would wonder about him often, and would imagine us being together someday in the future, as many humans tend to do with their girl- or boy-hood crushes.
He was, according to my LONG list, "the perfect man". I don't recall what was on that list at the time, but he held a special little spot in my heart for a long time.
Many many years have gone by (12 to be exact), and the list has changed substantially. I have changed and along with it the memory, slowly fading to short snippets: the train whistle in the distance, my friends' sleeping breath, the laughter at the dinner table.
I hadn't forgotten that night, no, but I certainly hadn't thought about it in quite a while. Until a couple days ago, when he found me online. What was so wonderful about it wasn't that I'd found my long lost perfect man, (I already found that one), but that we could talk about that night, and how the one evening together stayed with the both of us, and never really diminished in importance, it just changed.
I think for me, the fact that I never heard from him added to the mystery, and the fantasy of someday being with him. I think it also gave me hope that there really was someone out there that I could love, that could fulfill every item on the perfect man list. Today it is a reminder of my journey through relationships, friendships and time, it reminds me that things come back around. It reminds me that 12 years is an eternity, and also a very short amount of time.
2. de la selva
In undergrad i studied in Ecuador. I played in the jungle, swung from the vines and experienced it all with a friend called Kyle. Kyle happened to be very good friends with a girl called Laura B. I didn't know Laura B. at all, but when I returned home, I needed a place to live, and Kyle hooked me up with Laura B.
Kyle introduced me as De La Selva: my Ecuadorian name meaning "of the jungle" like George of the Jungle. We lived together for two.5 years after that. We had a grand time. We went salsa dancing almost every night. I made and drank my first (illegal) margaritas with her. I went to her wedding. Then we graduated.
We have done a sad job of keeping in touch in the last 8 years, although, admittedly she has done a much better job than I. She moved as far away as you can possibly move, while still being in the same country, well, almost. I expected to never see her again.
I would receive the occasional Christmas or birthday card, and I would smile, Then set it aside intending to write back. But I rarely did. Two years ago I managed a long long letter describing all my adventures of the prior 5 years and asked as many questions as I could think of, and hoped to hear back. No letter came.
Until a couple weeks ago when I got my Christmas card... and a long email explaining that she is back in Oregon, (Corvallis, where we went to school). Corvallis! I just applied to go to grad school there! We may be salsa dancing like crazy again soon.
crazy how the world goes round.
posted by humble bee at 5:55 PM
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