History Book

A couple of days ago, I'd decided that I'd been spending too, too much time sitting at this computer, so pulled a book off my shelf (that I should have read a couple of years ago anyway) and commenced to reading it.

Before I was able to leaf through to the opening page, I discovered a card sent to me eight years ago this month by an old flame from university days.

After university, she'd gotten married and moved to Texas, and I eventually got married and hardly moved at all. I'd contacted her by mail on a whim about thirteen or so years ago, after my marriage had dissolved, and found that hers was pretty much in the same state. We didn't remain in contact at that point, but a couple of years later she looked me up again and we began to reacquaint ourselves.

I'd for so long felt bad about the way we split up but remain pretty convinced that it was really our only course. She was (and still is, I found) passionately religious and I'm, well, not.

Well, we haven't spoken or e-mailed in over a year now. I'm not quite sure why. I happened to be in her town a couple of summers ago and we had made plans to meet for coffee the morning I was due to return home, but she called it off rather last minute and I've not heard from her since. In that time, I've called and left a message but haven't received a response.

So, back to the card...

I slid it out of the already-open envelope and read it, and for the life of me, I can't recall ever having read the words before. Nothing about the card -- not the words; not the card itself (which, frankly, was way too cute for a forty-year-old to have sent!). It was as though I'd discovered something tucked into a hidden pocket of an old coat. I must have read it when it arrived, but not one single word struck a note of familiarity. That's not like me. When it comes to such details, my memory has always held onto them tightly.

In the card, she expressed her gratitude for having found me again... and other things which seem to indicate she had fallen all over again for me -- something I'd never inferred from any of our conversations. I really, seriously had no clue.