Nostalgia

When the Matron was a VERY Young Miss--as in high school senior---she was tepidly head over heels in love with her first serious boyfriend.

He used to do adorable things like request this song on the radio. They would listen to it in the tiny gas station where he worked: Young Miss swinging her legs and sitting on the counter, while the boyfriend ran out in snow, wind and rain to pump gas.

And she says tepidly head over heels in love because the boyfriend was always saying this:

"You're going away to college in the fall and you'll leave this small town behind. I'm going to fix freezers and small engines for the rest of my life, just like my father. I'm just a pit stop in your life here. My life is going to be completely forgettable but yours might not be."

Not once--not ever once --did the Young Miss or her boyfriend pretend this was anything but true. Instead, every time he reminded her (them) of her impending departure and potentially heady adventure ahead, they both experienced a moment of somber agreement, recognizing Truth.

They let the song's promise of eternity stand in stark constrast to the reality they shared, without ever commenting on the irony.

She left that small town when she was 17 and never went back. He never left-- not ever. The Matron doesn't even think he went farther than a week holiday in Wisconsin. She wonders how far he traveled and the lives he spent, in his interior world.

Sometimes she thinks about how unquestioningly they accepted their destinies--and how, at 17, how resigned he was to his.