Cosmic Bookends
He saw her as he had seen her nearly ever single day of his young adult (or old child) life. The crows feet and subtle sagging here and there that had started to prove the existence of gravity did not register on his eyes. He knew her, but really only in name and vague association with an organization that both were bound to be a part of, willingly or not. High school was a long time ago.
He saw her now, with the same eyes that he saw her then. His nature had changed over the years. He did what his younger self would never had imagined possible. He looked her in the eye and said, "Hello."
The conversation that followed lasted for hours. Hours became days, days became weeks. Months followed. A series of smaller conversations gave way to one long narrative. Hopes and dreams were confessed. Laughter and tears began to bind them together. Slowly, over time, he began to see the tiny lines in her face and they completed a beautiful picture that was rooted, finally, in the Now.
He sat alone one night in her absence, reminiscing about all of the preconceived notions that anchored his spirit to a very dark place in those years when they first knew each other, but knew nothing of each other at all. He mourned the result of a youthful inability to see the world as it was instead of how he was told to see it. He wondered about all the time that had passed between them until a chance meeting so many years later had put them on this new path together, more complete than they had ever been.
"It will only drive me crazy," he said to the dog. "We were not then who we have come to be now." The dog tilted its head to the side and stared at him for a moment before rolling over and continuing its nap. "It never would have worked before now," he said to the uninterested dog, but mostly to himself. "Thank God for now."
First draft... I'm not sure there will be a second. There it is, warts and all.
He saw her as he had seen her nearly ever single day of his young adult (or old child) life. The crows feet and subtle sagging here and there that had started to prove the existence of gravity did not register on his eyes. He knew her, but really only in name and vague association with an organization that both were bound to be a part of, willingly or not. High school was a long time ago.
He saw her now, with the same eyes that he saw her then. His nature had changed over the years. He did what his younger self would never had imagined possible. He looked her in the eye and said, "Hello."
The conversation that followed lasted for hours. Hours became days, days became weeks. Months followed. A series of smaller conversations gave way to one long narrative. Hopes and dreams were confessed. Laughter and tears began to bind them together. Slowly, over time, he began to see the tiny lines in her face and they completed a beautiful picture that was rooted, finally, in the Now.
He sat alone one night in her absence, reminiscing about all of the preconceived notions that anchored his spirit to a very dark place in those years when they first knew each other, but knew nothing of each other at all. He mourned the result of a youthful inability to see the world as it was instead of how he was told to see it. He wondered about all the time that had passed between them until a chance meeting so many years later had put them on this new path together, more complete than they had ever been.
"It will only drive me crazy," he said to the dog. "We were not then who we have come to be now." The dog tilted its head to the side and stared at him for a moment before rolling over and continuing its nap. "It never would have worked before now," he said to the uninterested dog, but mostly to himself. "Thank God for now."
First draft... I'm not sure there will be a second. There it is, warts and all.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
lolablu:
No idea. The airline is probably changing its flights. But now I'll be flying New York to San Fran, San Fran to Osaka. Then Osaka to Frankfurt, Germany, Frankfurt to New York. Takes the same amount of time, so it's fine. Around the world!
bunnygirl2417:
Keep writing. This is beautiful...