Past Lives – 1 Of ???
Tales of past lives
I met her in Marietta, GA while on a TDY assignment from the west coast sometime in the late 80s.
I was in Marietta long enough to start dating of sorts but when the assignment ended, I headed back to California. Shortly thereafter, I changed jobs and ended up in Seattle. We had kept in touch and she eventually came out and stayed with me.
Was it going any further? Perhaps – she did move kitty-korner across the country – but for now, it was what it was and we were both OK with that.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing …
We took the Alaska state ferry from Bellingham to Juneau where she had a friend we could stay with. Didn’t know it was a guy; he didn’t know she was bringing me along. He was gracious, let us stay at his place for a week or so. I was still under the impression we were a “couple”; I was old enough I should have known better.
But I didn’t at the time.
Trip ended, we returned to Seattle.
One day I came home from work and she was gone. No note, no nothing.
Not long after but long enough, she called and asked if she could come back; she missed me and wanted to work things out. I told her OK.
I was old enough I should have known better.
But I didn’t at the time.
A few weeks later, I came home from work and she was gone. No note, no nothing.
And I never heard from her again.
Funny – I liked her quite a bit … but I never missed her either.
She never did become a “What if?“
Southwest Airlines used to have use the advertising tag line “you are now free to move about the country”, a riff on the cabin announcement that you are now free to move about the aircraft.
Some people take that concept far too literally.
Not sure whether to say “ouch” or not…….or if “can’t lose what you never had” is appropriate either. I will say I’m glad she didn’t take it into her head to string it along far enough to make anything legally binding before deciding to vanish.
At one point in the state of Texas, if two individuals were receiving mail at the same address, after a certain period of time the state considered them to be legally married under common law, and if one of the parties wanted to get snippy about things after a break-up, could sue the other party for divorce, alimony, all the things, and win. I don’t recall how long was the time period, and don’t know if those regulations are still in effect, or what other states may have had/still have such regulations.
Women. All crazy to one extent or another.
Looks like she left you with a few good memories.