I miss your smiling hazel eyes tenderly acknowledging my existence. My heart would skip a beat when our eyes met with adolescent bashfulness. Both of us gangley versions of our future selves. You with smooth almond skin that tanned to my complexion, wavy brown hair with summered blond streaks. I enjoyed chasing you to punch you for tugging my brown braids, and other such childish silliness.
Still really miss our discussions, planning sessions, trips to the library for our next acquisitions, and sketching our version of the good life. Science, History, Geography, Geology, Travel and our plans to go to University in Hawaii to be around people who looked more like us so we could blend in and not stick out like sore thumbs. You were a gentleman and a scholar beyond your 16 years. Most of our walks to the library included picking mulberries when in season and resting under the trees with closed eyes so your head wouldn't ache from too much sun. Only later learning it wasn't the sun that was causing your headaches. For the next year and a half there were medical tests, hospitalizations, operations and rehabilitation which seemed to leave you worse off. We shared an unspoken knowing that your time was short even if our parents weren't letting on. I tear up to this day as I recall when the sparkle in your beautiful hazel eyes dimmed, even though your welcoming smile remained.
Our special closeness hasn't been replicated, those teen years were tender and sweet yet tinged with the bitterness of loss and life. You sharing the illness portion of your journey helped me handle the death of my favorite Grandmother to cancer. You taught me the value of sharing one's inner most thoughts and dreams with someone special and I still cherish our special love.
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