choices

random story number two.....

'tell me about the woman you loved.' i nudged him.

we were sitting at lunch.

we both wanted to hear of things we didn't know about.
new stories. we had heard all his regular stories.
we wanted new stuff.

i had been the only one he had ever told about this woman.

well, besides his parents...no one else in the family had
known.

and so i gently nudged.

turns out he had done all the paperwork to bring her home.
he was gonna bring her home and start a life with her here.
his parents would disown him.
they made that clear.

and still he went back to get her.

and she was gone.

not getting any straight answers, he had no idea what had happened.

it wasn't til later that he found out she had gotten sick and died.

i leaned my head back against the booth.
wow.

his voice was quiet.
'i haven't thought of all that in years,' he said.

we talked a bit of the sadness and of how hard it was.
we honored his loss.

and then...my guy nudged.
'was there ever anyone else?'

he paused and then leaned over towards the aisle.
right away i understood what was happening.
i looked across the table at my guy, my eyes getting big.
my guy didn't catch it.
i just looked at him like 'just wait.'

and sure enough, out of his wallet, he pulled a picture that
was more than fifty years old.

black and white, aged...carried around for more than fifty years.

handing it to me, i saw a beautiful young woman.

'ohhhh she's beautiful,' i said softly as i handed the picture
across the table.

and we heard the story of the only other love of his life.
his six month love affair...
and how he decided to ship out and keep on going, and leave her
behind.

my head was leaning back again, just taking the whole story in.

this time my eyes filled with tears.

we talked of his reasons for making that decision.
we talked of fear and security and youth.

his voice changed every time he talked of her.

he had never told anyone in the family about her.
ever.
for over fifty years.

and fifty years later, she could still make his voice change.