-Unknown
It is said by some, and assumed by many more, that the generations of today have lost several things. The concept to love is apparently one of these.
But, as he stepped out onto the ramp, and then walked toward me over the runway, I couldn’t help but think that those people had it wrong…
At an easy 6”5’ he could have been mistaken for a sportsman of some kind, with his broad shoulders and square jaw line, and the way he kind of loped along when he walked, as though he was just that little too big for his body. He looked around, but was obviously a little lost, prompting me to walk right up to him. Having talked over the Internet for months I couldn’t believe that I was about to meet him face to face for the first time. I had rehearsed this moment in my head for weeks. I’d been shopping and bought new clothes, had a haircut, had a facial, and a spray tan. Everything had gone perfectly up to this point, and as I came into his line of vision and saw the look of recognition on his face, I knew that all my hard spending had payed off.
What followed was a week in a hotel room in Manuka. We had room service, we went on walks around the lake. I showed him the sights of the town that the tourists frequented, (an hour well wasted), before night fell and we went on our fine-dining binge in Kingston. We slept in the same bed, but that’s as far as it went…
Then, one night, I showed him why this truly is a beautiful city. At one in the morning there is one place you can go where the lights are always on, and where the romance is a guarantee. It was on the south side of our man made lake, under the flags of the nations, looking out over the moonlit water at the memorial atop Anzac Parade. There, in the chill April air, with a scarf wrapped around his freezing Brisbane neck, he told me that he loved me. And I said it back. It was a harlequin novel come to life.
The next day, after we completed a puzzle, and after I finished reading him Winnie the Pooh, it was time for one last outing together. The airport.
Again, this was a scene I had rehearsed in my head for a while, although I didn’t quite know how it would end… The answer was, inevitably, with him leaving. Out the gate he went, and through the metal detector. And in true Hollywood style, we had agreed not to look back. So I turned, and I walked toward the glass doors, pulling my sunnies over my eyes as though the world was watching and waiting for a tear. As I approached the door I checked myself out in my oncoming reflection, and noticed behind me something special. He was looking right at me. And the tear came.
It is said by some, and assumed by many more, that the generations of today have lost several things. Love, however, still remains.