True Love Never Dies!
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes, 52 secondsAlone but Together
“I was sure she had left, or maybe I had only imagined she had been in the hall. Frustrated, I was about to leave the event when I saw her sitting with some of my colleagues. Did she tell them, or did they figure out who she was? Thanks for all you did to make tonight a wonderful event,” I said to my co-workers.”If you can excuse me, I wanted to talk to my good friend whom I have not seen in decades.
A good friend,” Marie snorted. “I think she was your wife!”
Glaring, I retorted,” I would like a few moments alone.”
After they left, I pulled out a chair and sat beside Jan.
“Thanks for attending the dinner.”
“I would not have wanted to miss your retirement?”
My heart fluttered, and I was momentarily and uncharacteristically speechless.
Taking a deep breath, I attempted to expel the fright that was about to devour me.
I never thought we would ever see each other again. I am thrilled to see you.”
Jan laughed. “I got that impression from your interview.”
We chatted about the insignificant parameters of our lives, where we lived, worked, etc.
I steered the conversation like a moped around steel pylons as I wanted to enjoy my time with Jan and avoid specifics about her relationship status or relitigating the breakup.
Grandpa, my parents say it Is time to go home,” interjected my lovely granddaughter.”
I hugged and kissed the top of her head. As I did, I remembered that was where I first kissed Jan.
Let me introduce you to Jan, a friend of mine,” I said to my granddaughter. Jan, this is Janice, my granddaughter.”
Nice to meet you,” Jan said as she held her hand to my grandchild, who took it and imitated my two-handed handshake.
Looking at Jan, I uttered words I did not want to say.
“I need to go home, but if you want to or have time, we can meet for coffee, albeit I still do not drink it, and continue chatting.”
“Maybe…”
Before she could finish the sentence, Janice pulled me up from my chair, and my heart sunk into the deep blue sea.
“So you had a child?”
“No, he adopted my mom.”
“It is a little more complicated than that,” I replied.
Janice and I had walked about a dozen steps when I reached into my jacket and pulled out my new business cards with my home address, phone, and social media links.
Kiddo, can you do me a favor and give this to Jan?”
She grabbed the card and floated across the floor like a ballerina to hand the card to Jan.
When she caught up with me, Janice said far louder than I would have liked, “Is she the woman I am named for?”
Jan Needs Me Now is the second installment.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
After almost 48 years, I recently lost my wife, Jan Lilien. Like The Little Prince, Jan and I believed that “The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.” This blog is a collection of my random thoughts on love, grief, life, and all things considered.
