Random Meeting

I ran into someone last night that I haven't seen in years. It was the most random meeting ever. When I knew him, he lived in a town just outside of Edmonton where I lived. I suppose you could call him an old flame, of sorts. We didn't get overly involved, but for the brief time that we were seeing each other, I fell hard and fast. He was charming, charismatic, funny, and somewhat daring. I was instantly hooked, although most people on the outside looking in failed to see his appeal.

A couple of people I would love to randomly see

The end of this story is obvious. My frail heart was broken when he told me that he didn't want to be with me. I was so intent on finding 'the one' that I made him fit into my perfect little mold for what my husband should be. I was also reeling from a break up, and though it had occurred months before I was still trying to find any possible means to move forward. I suppose I was trying to win the break up, for all you HIMYM fans out there.

It was a whirlwind relationship. We met randomly, became interested in each other, went out to dinner, met each other's friends, and found out that we had some mutual connections. Actually, I met one of my best friends through him. Then things went south very quickly. He told me the day after my grad that he didn't want to be with me. Then rumours circulated amongst the people that were in our limo that he hooked up with this other girl in my year who I didn't really know at all. She told this to my best friend, who in turn told me. I was so hurt. I asked him about it, and to this day have no idea what really happened, although I don't think that a random girl would make up that story for attention.

I saw him a few times after that, but it was never the same. There wasn't that same excitement in the friendship. I didn't trust him and was very careful around him. He introduced me to some people that he knew, people that I still maintain strong relationships with, but we lost touch later on. I deleted him from my facebook account when I did a thorough spring cleaning a couple years back. He then went to a couple of our mutual friends asking about it, which I found really hilarious. I was surprised that he even noticed, he has so many 'friends' on facebook. Then I ran into him at the mall, and he asked me about it, and I just kind of shrugged him off and moved on. We hadn't spoken since.

I have been interested in how he is doing. He dated another girl for a while. They were engaged, actually, and they broke up. Her and I were acquaintances, and when she told me her side of the story I found it difficult not to side with her considering our own tainted history. But it was none of my business, really, so I carried on with my own life, asking people about him once in a while and creeping his facebook whenever I thought to (which wasn't very often).

Then not long ago, my best friend saw him in Edmonton. I hadn't heard a single thing about him for a long time, so it was this blast from the past. We texted about how weird that is, and then put it to rest. The last night, I was walking through a mall in Calgary, and there he was. I didn't notice him at first, my husband is the one who recognized him. I turned around, we made eye contact, and at that point it was either we pretend it didn't happen or actually say hello. He called me by my maiden name, as he always did, and we said hello.

It was good to see him. He looks the same as he always has. He is operating his own business with a partner, putting ghost armour on phones (great product, check it out if you have a smart phone). He seems to be in good health, happy, but is living a gypsy lifestyle. He lives in Vancouver, but flies between three cities running his business, so he doesn't have a place to call home. I wonder how he deals with that; that would be really hard on me. But I think that the best thing about that whole exchange is that he and I both seem happy. While I don't know how his quality of life is, I know my own and it is excellent. It was good to connect without the resentment that once haunted his very name. It was good to see him. And just like the day we met, it was the last place that I would have expected to see him. True to the relationship, I suppose.

-SP