Death of your forever person is one of the biggest reset buttons of your life. There are points in ones life which stay real in full technicolour, births, weddings, deaths. Do you know when my reset button was pushed ? You may think it was the death, for me it's when a man walked off a plane and my heart started again. Back up six weeks to me wanting; no needing a distraction. I was in another town for a medical appointment, as was he for work. I downloaded a dating app. With no intentions of anything other than swiping and wasting time until I could get on a ferry to go home.
All the planets aligned, and I found his picture as he found mine. He had on a Steelers hat, which he still wears and he is a huge Pittsburg fan. I however was a Giants fan well until Eli ok sour grapes about that so moving on. I commented on his picture that at least he wasn't a Cowboys fan and that begin many conversations. He had read my bio and was intrigued because number one, I said long distance isn't an issue and secondly, he had spent years as a child living in a logging camp on the islands I was from. I admittedly didn't read his bio; I thought he was cute. He was aware I had been widowed, and at first, I didn't know he had been as well, two years earlier. Had I read the bio, that could have been avoided? A few texts later led to exchanging numbers, leading to a twist one week later.
"Where are you?" I was out enjoying the beach with my dogs and couldn't get this guy off my mind.
"Mainland, watching my son play lacrosse."
"My nephew plays lacrosse. Maybe they've crossed paths. What team ?"
He stated the name and asked who's your nephew?
A second after my reply with my nephew's name, he sent me a picture. His son in another team's jersey is hugging my nephew on the court after a game. "I've known him since he was eight years old."
I felt the entire world tilt. It didn't make sense; I immediately called my sister and asked if she knew him. My sister was stunned, asking how we had met as we lived 1000 km apart. I told her an app, he was in town for work, and I was over for my daughter's medical.
After the shock wore off, she began to tell me. He's an amazing man; he lost his wife a few years ago. His son and hers had been friends for years, between hockey and lacrosse. That I needed to pursue this because he was a good man.
Now having your younger sister tell you to do something automatically had me wanting not to do it. My nephew was told I had met his friend's dad, and he urged me to see what could happen. He said I think about Uncle often, but Glen is a good man; you would suit one another. With that recommendation, I was all in. Glen asked if he could call me that night, and we spoke every night for 4-7 hours, never silence; the conversation was easy, like we had known each other our entire lives.
One evening after one of our many long calls, I sent him a meme it said," It's time you start living the life you've imagined.
It sparked something in him, and he thought that night all about what he wanted to do. He mentioned camping and that he had grown up where I lived and wanted to revisit it. You should come up here, and I'll be your adventure guide. My sister had said he worked too hard and needed a vacation; he booked a flight for a week later.
To have a forever person and then to lose them, the idea of finding another someone to share the remainder of your life with seems daunting, if not impossible.
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