Three years ago, I had a semi-romantic flirt-fest with a married man.
We met on the plane from Houston to New York. I was on my way home from a ten-day hostel trek through Nicaragua and glad to be homeward bound to clean sheets and potable tap water. There was immediate attraction and even more tension the second he sat down in the aisle seat of my row. As it was to happen, no one sat in the seat between us and the conversation started off with a "So do you think they're going to serve lunch on this flight?" Four hours in, we were sharing ear buds listening to his iPod and commiserating on my poor music library. To this day, She Wants Revenge songs will occasionally remind me of him.
As we exit the airport, I hand him my number and tell him to call me if he needs any New York advice. It just so happens that he will be spending half his stay in Westchester at the Pepsi headquarters and the other half in Manhattan... my two homes. AND his hometown, McAllen TX, is where he would eventually return to. What were the odds??
So did I mention he was married? And my intense shock when he actually calls? We chat almost everyday and email just as much for a couple weeks, even when he goes back to Texas. I'm floored every time we talk. Why is this so easy? I'm definitely doing something wrong, right? Why am I SO giddy? It's disgusting. Repulsive! But we keep in touch for another couple of months, with a call from him every so often, just to talk about nothing. Then one day, I decide. I am not investing in this preposterous no-future affair any longer. So I stopped answering. I actually felt sad for a while. Like I'd broken up with someone or lost a friend. "Heard from married man lately?" says Skamps with an air of condescension. I know he's right. But every so often, I'd see the Pepsi company headquarters and remember him. Every time I visited my parents in the next couple years, I'd look at their restaurant invoices. I noticed we've switched to Pepsi and scavenge their records for his name. It's not there.
Three years later, I'm back in McAllen and sitting in the restaurant office when the mail comes. There's a letter from Pepsi. It's a notice about their rates changing for the new year. Up again from last year. Signed, him.
I'm literally light-headed. Is it weird I want to email him? Should I say hi? This is a sign, right? Maybe he's divorced now. ha ha. Keep dreaming, Yon. Move on to the next one...
Hahaha i think u should email!
ReplyDeleteOh Tara. Haven't we talked about my issues with responding?
ReplyDeleteHere's a motto I have about these types of situations with married people..."so so not okay, stick with only divorcees"
ReplyDeleteWhat's the motto for men with children? Because the one for women with children was great... Thanks, Captain :)
ReplyDeleteIt happens. Every now and then we all meet people we "click" with and it has nothing to do with their marital status. Then there's the emails, texts, calls that become part of your daily routine. And of course you miss them when they stop. I know. I've been in your shoes (the woman is married). But the difference is, SHE stopped the contact with absolutely no explanation but I am guessing hubby found out and gave her an ultimatum.
ReplyDeleteYou know I'm less conventional than some others here. The fact I'm just over 7 years away from 50 and not married should be a clue.
I strongly believe marriage is so unnatural. We meet people from time to time we are attracted to and not to be able to do anything about it sucks. Almost without exception, all my male married friends seem to look at me with extreme envy and you can see they wish they weren't tied down. Most of them go crazy when they "escape" on a business trip or if their wives are away and I feel sorry for them. We'll be out till 3am and I'll want to head home and they want to party on. The reason is they know it's a rare opportunity to be able to be out whereas for me, I know I can do it all again the next day and the day after, so there's no need to go nuts.
So I'm going to stir things up and say go for it. Have some fun. How does the saying go : it's better to have loved a married dude and lost than never to have loved at all!