A Song That Reminds You Of Someone

Over a decade ago, I met an incredible woman.  Her words broke my heart by echoing its pain.  Her smile was contagious.  Her love for music was equally insatiable.  She was several years younger than I, but an old soul, and in that understanding, we forged a friendship.

I fell madly in love with her and never admitted it aloud.  I couldn’t.  Love was something I had a track record for ruining with my neuroses and traumatic baggage, and she deserved better than that fate I’d relegated others to.  Instead, she became my best friend in the entire world, my trusted confidante, my one tether to survival I couldn’t cut through in the darkest days.  I felt I had to persevere, because it was what she asked of me.

What can I say?  I’m a sucker for poets with cat ears and delicate voices.

472.92 miles:  the approximate distance between us, each and every day.  It’s not a journey made easily, but I’ve made it at each and every possible opportunity.  By plane, by train, by bus or by car, I find a way back to her.  It’s as if we’ve never parted.

We don’t speak as often as I wish.  Our lives are busy and don’t intersect as well as I’d like.  Rather, we don’t speak directly very often.  I speak to her all the time, and listen for her in my heart.  I feel it when something’s wrong.  My body aches and I wince, and I simply know.  She somehow always knows when I need her most.  These are bonds that are rare, enduring – the kind that affirm the notion of soul mates.  Kindred spirits.

The fallen angel with the foul mouth and sturdy boots and the beautiful faery girl swirling in skirts and cigarette smoke, looking for her light.  Quite a pair.  Storms chase us around, but at least we’re never alone.

Umbrella – Mandy Moore