Date Night Stories

Love After Loss

I stood up from the table as I finished eating the bowl of noodles I brought to work. Lunch was over and I headed back in to get over with work for today, the 12 hour shifts were killing me. As I scanned my ID on the scanner, I noticed an old man who looked similar to a man I met before.

I was waiting tables at a small diner back in my hometown when I met him. He was an older gentleman and he wore a thick brown coat with a white button up underneath. He wore a red tie and he had round glasses, thick as can be. It was raining cats and dogs outside and it was a slow day, he wasn't a regular there and so I took notice of him immediately...

He sat in one of the booths, nursing his second cup of coffee, he liked it black, no sugar, no cream. He ordered a couple slices of bread and he's been dipping it in his coffee before he eats it. Since there was nothing else to do, I approached him and I asked him if I could get him some more food and he politely declined. For some reason, we got to talking and he talked about his first love and how he was meeting her. He came a long way, halfway across the country.

"She was my next door neighbor, we grew up together and went to school together. She had bright blue eyes and long brown hair that she refuses to cut. She would braid them and she wore her hair like that every day. She really loved flowers and she had her own little garden in their yard. She was bright and brilliant, every thing I ever adored. She dared me to kiss her when we were 5 because one of our classmates kept going on and on about her first kiss so she wanted to know. But she ran away when I tried. I didn't even know what feelings were but I definitely had it for her. We played lots of games and made plenty of memories in our little paradise. Eventually we grew up and we had more school activities but we still made time for each other. We played video games in my room and we had movie marathons in her living room. I was very happy with her, being with her made sense and I fell for her hard."

"It took a while, but we started dating and before we know it, we were married and we moved to the city to save up and life was just different. We had a small backyard wedding and it was one of the most intimate moments of my life. She was the best thing to ever happen to me and I love her so much."

"I remember the little details that only I knew about her and I thought it was beautiful because it was something we got to share and it's what made her my wife and I her husband. The little imperfections that we grow to love and remember. The simple thing such as never leaving the toilet seat down, farting too much, snor3too loudly, not making the bed, too fussy about the laundry, being too sensitive about this and that, being too insensitive about this and that. We were far from perfect. But she was perfect for me. And that's all that really mattered at the end. How much we loved each other and how perfect we were together."

"But like everybody else, we had our differences and we were unhappy together and we separated for a couple years before we decided to file for a divorce."

"She moved back here and she got married after a few of years and I focused on my work. I progressed greatly in every aspect of my life and I feel like I succeeded but it always felt like something was lacking. No matter how much money I earned and how many people I met and despite all the experiences, it was never enough. Once you meet the person you were meant to be with, and you somehow along the way mess it up or forget to take care of it, it's like losing a part of yourself. You will spend the remainder of your days not fully happy. Of course, I've had plenty of happy moments and I've had plenty of time to heal and move on but she's still the love of my life."

"She had children of her own and based on her letters, she seems happy and it sounded like she was living her best life, she sounded excited for life and it was great to know that the one you love the most is happy. It's been 30 years since I've seen her. I'm meeting her today and I'm so nervous, I came here hours early and we were supposed to meet for lunch"