AT 76, I TOOK A BUS TO SEE MY FIRST LOVE AFTER 50 YEARS – BUT FATE INTERRUPTED BEFORE I COULD REACH HER

in the rain at nineteen and kissed me behind a grocery store.

The sight almost broke me.

I walked to her bedside and carefully took her hand, as if fifty years between us could somehow be hurt.

“I came as fast as I could.”

“I know.”

I stayed there for a long time without saying anything.

I simply looked at her and allowed the impossible reality of her being continue reading …