New Directions

So, Mike has come and gone and the visit was WONDERFUL although it zoomed by. We both agreed it went the fastest of any visit to date. Fortunately, I am going to see him this Wednesday. He invited me out to Denver to see the Mile High Nationals (drag racing) so, of course, I'm getting excited.

I'm also excited about some other news in my life. I've written about this in one of my other blogs - In The Stretch Zone, but I'd like to share it here as well. In an effort to launch a freelance writing career, I have taken what was for me a giant leap. I posted a relationship article on ezinearticles.com called Keeping Score in Your Relationship. If you have arrived at this blog via that article, welcome. If you are a regular reader, I'd love for you to check out my article and let me know what you think. Of course, my main focus is on long-distance relationships but at their core, relationships of any kind have many things in common so I find myself writing general articles. I hope you find them helpful.

I am also working on an eBook titled How to Make Your Long-Distance Relationship Work. So please look for that in the near future. If you would like to get on my email list for relationship tips, you can sign up at A Long Distance Love.

More to come...

Travel Plans

It wasn't long before Mike and I were on the phone discussing his travel plans. He had booked the Thursday flight. I could barely believe it; after 28 years, Mike was coming back into my life. To say I was excited would be quite the understatement. My mind was racing with all the things I had to do before his arrival in less than 3 weeks - redecorate my house, get a face lift, a tummy tuck and a tan, lose 20 pounds! Well, back to reality - I could at least clean up my house and maybe, with a lot of effort, drop 2 or 3 pounds. But mostly, I needed to get a grip. I remembered the huge crush I had on Mike in high school and I wondered how I would feel seeing him again after all these years.

Paul, who by now knew that Mike and I were planning a get together, sent me pictures from the reunion. I anxiously scanned through all of them until I saw him. He was as gorgeous as I remembered. He epitomized the belief that men get more handsome and distinguished as they age. Now that I knew how little he had changed I started to fret over what he would think of me. My brain still thought I was 17 but my body belied the years. Well, no time for concern, I was getting more and more anxious to see him.

Planning a Visit

For the last 6 years I had attended my children's high school football games alone. For some reason, I would get particularly melancholy at Homecoming games so I had invited Mike for Homecoming weekend on November 4th. Just to add a bit of encouragement, I shot off an email.

Me again,

It was so wonderful to hear your voice and catch up a bit. I REALLY hope you decide to come visit, if not the weekend of the 4th then sometime very soon.

I’m tingly at the thought!

AC

I sing and dance in a Sweet Adeline's chorus that rehearses every Tuesday night. Since this was Tuesday, I had to get to rehearsal. We were preparing for International competition and I had to be at the rehearsal hall at 5:00 PM. Knowing I wouldn't get home until nearly 11:00 PM, I checked my email right before I left the house - nothing! The first thing I did on my return was check my email and I could barely contain my excitement when I found an email from Mike in my Inbox.

AC,

I'd LOVE to come see you. Believe it or not, I'm actually looking at flight options right now. When would you prefer that I come? I can either come in on Thursday around 4:15 , or on Friday at 1:20PM.

I've already cleared the trip with my kids, as long as I promise not to relocate to Dallas permanently.

Let me know your thoughts,

Mike

I responded immediately!

Well, wanting to spend as much time with you as possible, I vote for Thursday!

Have you ever been to Dallas? Don’t make any promises you might not want to keep. :>) Dallas is a great place!


My heart was racing again. Why was I so thrilled with all of this? I kept telling myself not to get too carried away.

Catching Up

We spent about an hour on the phone catching up on 27 years. Following college graduation, Mike's life had brought him across the country to Denver via Chicago. He was in only his second job since graduating. I immediately thought how stable and loyal that made him. His wife passed away 9 years ago and he had since been raising his 2 children all alone. He sounded like a very devoted father, replacing the executive track he had been on, with a sales position so he would have the time he needed to spend with his daughter and son.

I, on the other hand, was divorced nearly 6 years, raising my own son and daughter with all the inherent struggles of single parenthood. We immediately shared this common bond and the child-rearing conversation gave us insight into each others' values. I was delighted with everything I heard, as much of it matched so closely to my own.

Even our children were of similar age - we each had a child in college and a child in high school. We reminisced about our own high school days and it turned out he didn't even remember the chemistry class - only the time we had spent together having our heart-to-heart talks. He also didn't remember the summer we spent together when we were both in college. I just laughed it off and joked that I guessed my company hadn't been too impressive.

Then he asked me if I was serious about him coming to visit and I said of course.

He said, "I'm not very spontaneous but I really would like to come and see you again." We discussed possible dates and by the end of the conversation, he said he would look into it.

My mind was racing. I had barely dated in the 6 years since my divorce. Suddenly I was very excited at the thought that I might see Mike again after all these years.