As we go through life, we'll meet lots of people and make mental notes of them. We'll always remember the ones with whom we shared special memories with (like the time when one of the gfs got stung by a jellyfish and how we all volunteered to piss on her to ease her pain - all in the name of friendship), or the one you first kissed, or the one you first loved, or the one you who always made you feel better.
But most of all, somehow or rather, we'll always remember the one that got away. Maybe we don't think about that person every single waking moment of every single day, but the thought of that person does pop up once in a while.
I think that the one that got away is someone who was very special to you, someone very close to your heart and everything was fantastic. Except the timing was just off. It was like as if you found this diamond in the rough, so to speak, but the stars or the planet wasn't lined up quite right in your universe.
I have that guy,
the one that got away. He was the first guy I actually felt something real for. I met my one-that-got-away when I was in college. We didn't exactly start off great, but the dynamics of our friendship shifted at a pace I was comfortable with. Not too fast, not too slow. As time went by, I found myself making more mental notes of this guy - his sense of humor, the way he talked, the way he moved, how out of tune his singing was (
which made me laugh even harder), how he doesn't take himself seriously, how he treated others, and how he was when he was with me.
Despite all those greatness, things didn't work out between us (well, obviously, since he is the one that got away). I suppose it was the timing of it all. Perhaps I was too slow in figuring out how my feelings were towards him. I had a lot of things going on at that point in time - I was away from home the first time, I broke up (again) with my high school bf, I was trying to adjust to the college life, etc.
A part of me wanted to just be swept away by his sweet gesture but a part of me was trying to keep things simple between us, well, simple for me at least. Yes, I wasn't ready for another relationship and it showed through the mix signals I was sending him.
Then one fine day he told me he's got someone new. I was overwhelmed with this sudden pain in my chest and how I tried really, really, really hard not to cry. And that was when I knew, how hard I had fallen for this guy and how things were never going to be the same between us.
It was quite strange because we never argued, never had misunderstandings, the chemistry between us was more than effing great but we both pulled away from each other because it was too much to deal with. He had a gf to attend to, while I had a broken heart to mend.
As time went by, after countless pity-me parties with the girls, after countless bad decisions in the guys I would date after my one-that-got-away, my heart finally healed itself. And one day I found myself ready.
Ready to settle down, ready to stick with my man through thick and thin. My current relationship, I believe, will be the one who I'll spend the rest of my life with. It'll work this time because I've finally made sense of things and I'm a different person now. I finally understand who I am, what I want and what I need from a partner.
But sometimes I do think about the one that got away. I wonder,"What if we were together now, with me as I am and not as I was?" Would it have worked? Would I be happier than I am now?
The one that got away is the biggest "what if?" question you'll have in your life. But considering the situation that I'm in (one foot down the wedding aisle with McChef), I'll just have to accept that my one-that-got-away is married to someone else and that he really is, well, the one that got away.
But thankfully, being the person that I am today, I've also realized that me wondering about the "what if's" is just a test of my commitment to McChef and I'll just shrug it off. But it's always nice to know that the memories I had with my one-that-got-away will most likely bring a smile to my face when I'm no longer "hip and happening".
Anyways, the real point that I'm trying to put across here is, if you have that person and it's not too late to act on it (such as you're both single), then seriously, do something about it. Ask him/her on a date, because who knows, you could very well be the person who got away for him/her. And who knows, now that the stars and the planets have lined themselves perfectly in both your universe, wouldn't it be great to be able to say to him/her, "Hey you, you're the one that almost got away".
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