Love Hurts Sometimes
Then, I would never have believed that ten years after we split I
would
still think of him. The scientist in me is always surprised to rediscover
this fact: That a person can truly be broken. Forever. There is no “It
was
for the best” here; no hard earned wisdom that I am glad I came
by. Our
split was simply a complete and utter destruction of my person. Life
can
be that way. Eventually you have to move on; Life, again, compels you.
And, after all, I wanted to be happy again. So, you pick up what’s
left,
reinvent what isn’t and go on.
I think the specter of our breakup has changed me far more than our
relationship. Away from the warm glow of naivete, the memories of us
seem
trite. It is true that only we assign meaning to our experiences. On
paper
they mean nothing. We went camping with my family. I snuck clandestine
visits to his house after school. He biked out to my house in the middle
of the night. We hung out with his friends. He got the chicken pox.
We
made out in the hallways at school and passed notes. We drove - a lot,
we
drank some, we smoked pot once.We had pot and sex.It was great.And of course we had sex, my first.
We
were in going to be married, you see.
Mostly, we had no fear. We talked about ourselves, our dreams, our
childhoods, our parents. Each discussion was a wonderful opening, with
no
fear of what we might discover or lose. Every fact, every feeling shared
was a precious thing to be cherished and savored. Our universe did not
understand the possibility of loss.
Eventually, there was another. There always is in these stories. She
took
him away with a kiss. To explain the complete and utter vacancy of the
following months would be difficult. At least there were tangible side
effects: the loss of 25 pounds, the withdrawal, the tears, and tears,
and
tears. To this day I have not replenished them. Only after I rebuilt
myself did he want me back. But the me had that had been was lost.
It is more than ten years later. The person he missed hasn’t
returned. I
don’t think she will. I look for her sometimes, in boxes of old
things,
but she is never there. The beach is my place now. It is small consolation
for a lost self. I know now that our relationship was far from perfect.
I
know what he has done with his life, and what I have done with mine,
and
logically, I understand them to be incompatible. What I really
miss is the me that didn’t consider such things.
I see him in dreams sometimes. We approach, we talk; we are never
lovers. In my dreams we travel asymptotic paths; never crossing, almost
touching, our current lives the tiny infinite gap between us. I like
my
life now. It makes me happy. But above all, I can never forgive him.
It’s not that he was perfect. It’s not that we were perfect.
It’s simply
that he was my Everything, and he chose to leave