I am one of those people who often think about their first love. My first love was with a girl who lived next door. I have heard some old flames reunited while others prefer to lose them in the crowd, but I chose to keep my first love with me forever safe in my heart. I know even if we get back together, it will not work. We had not moved apart because our parents disapproved or we were too naive. We split up because we both felt we were not made for each other. So, she went her way, and I went mine but I can never forget her first touch on my hand and her tender kiss.
I look back and see those days when we were young. I was 17, and she was almost my age. We met in school, and our love grew from there henceforth. She was beautiful, and I was mesmerized with her ways. The way she talked and moved, there was something about her smile. At that time, I did not know it was puppy love. I was madly in love, and she seemed to be the center of my universe. She had almost the same feelings that were so visible with that soft glow on her cheeks and it made my heart skip a beat.
We never thought we should end as the characters of sad love story. There are many stories of couples I have read who split up and then tracked each other down. However, the idea of getting back together is something that does not excite me as much as others who found each other again many years after they first met.
She married one of my friends. It has been twenty years, and when she announced she was leaving me for him my whole world seemed to shatter apart. I was devastated at the time. That was when I realized it was one-way traffic. All this time, it was only me. She was in love but with my best buddy on the campus.
Years later, I saw her at the airport. She had put much weight on her once model perfect figure. Holding a baby in her arms, she was trying to pacify her other child and to pant heavily. Then I saw her husband who had a potbelly with a receding hairline and was reading a newspaper. The man was oblivious to the family mayhem. Probably the little one got restless and decided to turn the waiting lounge into his backyard. Seeing her struck my memory, and I was forced to relive my past, but it soon disappeared behind relief. I was thrust back into the reality where I was still the most sought after person and she looked like the damsel in distress if I overlooked her fifty extra pounds, two overly excited kids and the beast of a husband she had. I shrugged and thanked my stars.
I left her in the midst of her fighting, gasping, panting and ranting in life and took the first left towards the gate. I do not want to lose the sweet memories of my first love and yes, reality bites. I walked away, later to dream of her as we had been – young and vibrant.
