a walk down memory lane

I really wanted to write about something else tonight, something completely off topic. About the guy I met on the plane my freshman year in college.

I met him in this amazingly romantic way, at least at 18 years old I thought so. We were flying home for Thanksgiving and a huge group of us went to the airport together on the metro. I flew to Minneapolis and T was on my same flight -- he had a connection there to California. Long story short, we sat together and we talked for the 2 1/2 hours. It was one of the amazing conversations where you feel like you've met the person before, but also a little awkward because you're trying to impress the other.

Long story short, we went on a few dates -- if you can even call them that, since it was college. He implied a lot of things, alluded to wanting to date me or more. But that's all it was. He never once tried to kiss me. Even when we spent an incredible romantic evening walking around the national mall. Not once.

And so, like any sensible midwestern girl, I wrote him off. I dated other people, who did kiss me. But in between each boyfriend he reappeared. He took me on dates. He alluded to a lot of things, but that's all he ever did. And I thought two things. That he was flakey. And that he liked the idea of me, a sweet midwestern girl meets the big city, more than the actual me.

So fast forward -- oh my god -- EIGHT years. And out of the blue he contacts me. He's living in California. He tells me he's been thinking a lot about me, how he regrets never pursuing me, how he thought I was his true love that night he met me on the plane. He implied he wanted to visit, wanted to become a part of my life again. He gets really excited when I say I've applied to a job in the same state he happen to applly to law school.

What the hell is a sweet midwestern girl suppose to do with that?