This morning your memory
remains within my heart.
Mi Amor, you remembered me.
Always. Always.
It was so simple.
Deceptively so.
For months we had talked,
but not about it. It!
It was the elephant in
the room.
You knew it. I knew it.
I picked you up at your
mom’s
and we went to lunch.
You had found a place
called Bella Luna.
Funny, but you liked
saying it,
“Bella Luna, Bella
Luna.”
It was lyrical.
It was in the center
by the freeway
on Ventu Parkway.
We took a place in the
corner;
windows to your back
and to your right.
It was a sunny day.
The sunlight lit the
room.
The years hadn’t been
kind.
But you remained
beautiful.
Your smile; your humor.
The pleasant way about
you.
Kind; sweet … and yet
guarded.
A black hole on some
days.
You had lost everything.
Your home; your painted sunflowers.
The real estate bubble
took the condo too.
Your job was gone.
Now you were living with
Fran.
You had been through
hell,
but there was still more
to come.
The packages of hate
arrived on a regular
basis.
The almost daily text
messages
and phone calls came
crashing in on you as
well.
The nasty emails to you;
to me.
Copies cut and pasted,
Assembled, copied and
delivered
by hand or by mail to
harass
and to isolate you.
Sick.
With Fran, you were safe.
There we sat
in the corner of the
café.
We talked. We ordered lunch.
We talked about this and
that.
And then suddenly you
said,
“I made a terrible
mistake.”
Even today I can see it
clearly,
you saying the words.
The elephant was suddenly
loose.
I knew immediately
what you were trying to
say;
what you wanted to say.
but it couldn’t be.
The wall between us
needed to come down.
We needed peace …
all the years; all the
hurt …
it had to go.
I stopped you before
you could go further and
said,
“You made no mistakes.”
“You have three beautiful
children.”
“They are not mistakes.”
You so desperately
needed to hear the love.
Despite everything,
the outcome was a
blessing.
In that moment we were
free.
The why of it didn’t
matter;
lost to time.
I look back on that
lunch.
I look back on that day
when you brought your
infant son
to me and the pledge
between us was made.
That day. That lunch.
They were like dots
connected through time.
Last June’s phone call
was another dot; the last
dot
on the pages of our
lives.
All connected …
I am blessed to
have known you.
I am blessed to
have called you my
friend.
I am blessed to
have loved you; love you
still.
I am blessed for
all that I have in my
life.
I wish I could change
things.
I would change many
things.
But you take the
blessings with the bad.
That’s life.
On a day; a sunny day
at the Bella Luna
you and I found peace.
I am blessed.
Have a tune for you today
Last June, "Said goodbye, turned around
And you were gone, gone, gone
Faded into the setting sun,
Slipped away"
... enjoy.
Said goodbye, turned around
And you were gone, gone, gone
Faded into the setting sun,
Slipped away
But I won’t cry
Cause I know I’ll never be lonely
For you are the stars to me,
You are the light I follow
I’ll See you again, oh
This is not where it ends
I will carry you with me, oh
Till I see you again
I can hear those echoes in the wind at night
Calling me back in time
Back to you
In a place far away
Where the water meets the sky
The thought of it makes me smile
You are my tomorrow
I’ll See you again, oh
This is not where it ends
I will carry you with me, oh
Till I see you again
Sometimes I feel my heart is breaking
But I stay strong and I hold on cause I know
I’ll see you again, oh
This is not where it ends
I will carry you with me, yeah yeah
I’ll See you again, oh
This is not where it ends
I will carry you with me, oh
Till I see you again
Till I see you again,
Till I see you again,
Said goodbye turned around
And you were gone, gone, gone.
