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What My Great Love Taught Me
I did not end up with my great love. Instead, she left an indenture so deep I no longer attempt to fill this void. Randomly, I examine it and cram some loose change on it — a new hobby, a video game, a dating site. But her memory lingers.
My great love did not arrive in a grand manner. Our eyes did not lock, and the world did not standstill. Instead, it was an ordinary Wednesday afternoon at the grocery, and I did not even notice she was on aisle 34. It was not movie-worthy. It is not something worth writing about. My great love arrived surreptitiously, and I did not notice because I was busy buying nachos for my movie marathon for the weekend.
But what my great love lacked in her entrance she made up in terms of impact.
Because she was never my type, I don’t go for women like her. I wanted them shy and reserved, but she was opinionated and articulate. I was saying something, and she would counter me. I would counter her, and the conversations lengthened themselves all over the sheets and into the night. Sometimes it frustrates me that she does not stop. We can stop, you know. She can concede. But she does not let up — her words like a battalion ready to smite my ideas until they were strong enough to withstand battle.
My great love caught me with her words, and it was wave upon wave of poetry. Whenever I describe…