Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

...that I must say goodnight.

This post is inspired by a post from a new friend. It evoked this "Got til it's Gone" (janet reference) sentiment.

It was 1999 and a good friend of mine and I went to a singles party in Maryland. I was reluctant to go at first, but my friend D thought it would be fun. When we walked in we were given a color and a number. Almost immediately D and I were separated from each other because we're in different groups. I'm on the green "team" and he's on the white team. (things are really coming back to me)

We're told that the reason that we're being separated is because we will be transferring from room to room with our team. I don't recall how many rooms his house had, but there were many. Each room had a different theme. Some would be discussion rooms and others would be for twister, taboo or eating/relaxing.

Before we moved to a room we had to get up in front of the crowd of about 30 strong and say something about yourself. I mentioned something about being a Capricorn...lol (I always do that).

The first room I was in was a "discussion" room. We read a topic, which I don't recall, and discussed it. I remember this cute guy with great lips sitting across from me. He was very opininated, a definite plus in my book. I thought I saw him checking me out, but I wasn't sure.

Now the rule was if you saw someone you liked you wrote down their color and number and gave it to the host who had your contact information next to your color and number. The only way you would be contacted would be if they wrote you down too. Well, I was interested and listed him. That was huge for me at the time.

It was a holiday weekend I think Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (which is around my birthday). I remember being in my car and my cellphone going off (Nokia, if you care). It was him. I was shocked. We spoke about that evening and when we'd get together. Our first date was a day later; we had pizza and talked. It was great.

We dated for about three months and I'm not clear as to why we didn't continue to date, but he did mention that when I got my computer (AMD K6 320) he saw less of me....which wasn't true. What was true was that I was planning to move to NYC and he knew that. I think we knew that neither of us wanted to get hurt. Looking back that was just an excuse.

This guy still has a place in my heart. I'm a pretty dramatic person and love a good presentation. One day I had gotten off work and he asked if I wanted to come over. Well, when I got over his place. He had left the door open and had lit tea lights all over the apartment. It was a moment I won't forget because I knew he did it for me.

Just a few weeks ago he called to see if he saw me on TV (it wasn't me). I felt he left this flirty message about my smile, but he's a big flirt so I don't know what it meant. I called him back and we decided that we would get together when I go back home in August. I'm looking forward to seeing him.

We are two different people (he has a boyfriend) and I've grown and changed since then, but we still keep in touch. Even now I remember what a special man he was and how he was the only reason, at the time, to stay in my hometown and not move to New York City.