I was at a bar having a drink with a friend and playing pool. S. and I had been friends for a long time, and she’d been there the night I met O. I hadn’t had my cell phone long, barely knew how to work it beyond answering and talking.
As the night wore on and S. and I were laughing and drinking, I noticed a tiny image of what looked to be an envelope at the top of my phone’s screen. I had no idea at the time was a text message was, and even less of an idea of how to retrieve what had been sent. I asked S., who fumbled with the phone briefly before handing it back to me, defeated.
I just started pushing buttons, and finally words appeared. It was O., he was at home and had been thinking of me and so decided to send me some tender sentiments. I beamed at S. and showed her my message, wanting to share this overwhelming feeling that was burning and building inside of me.
Yesterday, I was remembering this night, the feeling of something new and exciting, so full of hope and potential. During the slow recollection it occurred to me that O. was the first person to ever text message me. I kept those words, dragging them from phone to phone, letting them lift me up from time to time.
Until one day, I didn’t.
Posted in Uncategorized