A Memory of You and I

It was a time outside of time, and so it was neither the best nor the worst of times. I can’t say where it fits within the many frames of moments that fill a life because it is not included in the frames. There is nothing to compare what it was to what other things are—it was different from them all—and so one of a kind.

It may be difficult to say exactly what it was or when it was, but I can tell you where it was. It was between my heart and yours. It was a feeling that transcended all others ever felt before. The world, the wind, the very moment that it occurred within, were all whisked away and dissolved into a distant background to the timeless unique moment. The moments that preceded the feeling were just normal moments. But then, every single moment up to that event if compared to it are really nothing at all. That is why it does not fit into the category of moments. It’s not fair to every other moment to make them compete with something that has no counterpart to compete with. Looked at by themselves, the moments around it were actually very good moments. I’m not trying to say that the preceding moments were bad. No, the preceding moments deserve credit for being truly good moments as far as moments are considered.

But that is all just a side-step from what this is all about. I don’t want to get distracted by moments. There is a time and a place to talk about the many moments that fill the albums of life, but I don’t wish to speak about those now.

I want to tell you about the time outside of time that the above paragraph was just a momentarily distraction from. The time outside of time. Yes. That is what you need to know about. I’ve never experienced a timeless moment in time before. And I had only ever hoped to dream about them. I thought that the dream of the experience would be as close as I could ever hope to get to anything so close to perfect. But, sometimes good things happen when unexpected—a truth for which I am indebtedly grateful to. Someday I wish to thank in person who is responsible for such things, but again, that is a thing for future time.

It’s difficult to talk about the time outside of time. It’s really a contradiction of all that is familiar. Because it is a one of a kind, kind of event, I think that it deserves its own set of words to describe it to you. I think that I should write a whole new language just to describe it to you. But I can’t always do the ideal as much as I would love to and as much as this timeless moment deserves it, I can’t. But I will do my very best. Maybe I will even do a bit better than my best. I shall try with all of my capacity that there is to offer.

I said at the beginning that the time outside of time occurred between us. That it did! Yes, at the time I didn’t know it or expect it. Everything was just like it always is. But then, I came around the corner and you were there. Even then, I didn’t realize that there was anything special happening. At first, you were just one of many people that filled a busy street. There were people everywhere. It is always difficult to see just one person out of a crowed for me. If there were a way to measure the probability of you and I out of all of them, the numbers would scold the thought of you and I. But, the moments outside of moments was larger than anything numbers could ever pretend to express.

It was not me, that I know. There was no reason that me being my normal me would ever have been enough. There was something big at work. I came around the corner, and you did too. In the hundreds of other times that I had ever gone around a corner and done the very same thing, I always would have just side-stepped without even looking at who I was sidestepping around, but not in that instance. For whatever reason, I stopped. Just forgot about everything.

You came around the corner too. You could just as easily sidestepped me as I was likely to sidestep you. Just keep on walking from point A to point B and never known that you were stepping around a once ina history timeless moment. You could have done the same thing as usual, but you looked right into my eyes that were looking right into your eyes. You and I. Two paths didn’t cross, they did not merge, they ran right into each other. Our eyes met and for me it was as though our futures collided so perfectly that they perfectly melded together.

That is when the timeless moment happened where my love that had been waiting found its heart. Right there in the middle of so much, you and I. Right there where no one ever expects to find love. You and I.

That is what it was from my perspective. There was me stuck in the middle of life that moved on day by day, hour by hour. Then there was there on the corner. You and I. That is my perspective on us meeting. I don’t know if that is the way you felt on that day. Looking into your eyes right there was looking into infinity. I knew what you would say, but I asked anyway. Conversation and laughter came as easily, but it was unnecessary. Everything That needed to be said could be said in a look, a smile, or a glance into each other’s eyes. From then on, every single day even when I have forget to say it, I still remember us. I still remember there. I still remember where. I remember the details. I remember the color of your hair as the sun touched a few strands, I remember the way the wind tossed it after you ran your fingers through it. I remember the smell of the market booths along the sides of the streets. I can remember the red dress that you wore swayed and danced in the breeze like flame around your legs. I can replay it in my head and count the number of times you blinked. I think I can even hear the sound of my breath leaving me as I saw you for the first time. But I can’t remember the time, just the timelessness of it.

Many years have come and gone, but that memory where you and I met and stepped forward from there together, I’ve not forgotten. After all these years together, you and I is still the sweetest memory—a memory that we are still making every day. A memory of joy and tears and pain and hope and laughter and love. A memory of life and forgiveness. A memory of you and I.