Untold Stories: The Final Chapter

A few years ago, I was sitting at some slot machine at the Wynn Hotel when you sat down next to me.  Okay, it wasn't you but for about two minutes, I was convinced she was.  My recollection of you is vague but I remember a few specific details:  Like your beauty mark.  And your smile.

Of course, I remember your big bangs and denim skirts but this was 2009 so those two details weren't relevant at that moment.

She sat down next to me; obnoxiously drunk and as soon as she hit something on her slot machine, she would slur, "winner winner chicken dinner" and then look at me and laugh.  I knew she wasn't you when her yellow nicotine stained teeth came into view.

She quickly lost interest in her gambler's drug of choice and stumbled off into the distance. 

I have to admit for those two minutes I thought she was you, I was nervous, excited and clumsily trying to think of words to say to reintroduce myself to you. 

Back when I used to call you on my old olive green colored rotary phone, I always made a list of things to talk about with you before I called.   You made me nervous.  I've always been intimidated by girls of your caliber.  So, in preparation of hearing your voice, I made certain there would be no awkward silence.

This was even true after you left, right before we lost contact, and technology had evolved to cordless phones. 

Frankly, you scared me and it's because you were unlike all the other girls.

Maybe, that fact alone explains why over the last 20 something years I have been looking for you.

Many things have crossed my mind in my feeble attempts of finding you... Like, will you even remember me?  Was I so ordinary at that young age that I am just a blur in the dark crevices of your memories?  Or if I do find you and am not prepared with a well thought out list, will I say something so remarkably stupid, you kindly rebuke my reintroduction?

Here we are in 2014, twenty something years after we last spoke on the telephone and I am at peace, finally.   Finding you... seeing you with an incredible husband and two beautiful kids is the best scenario for you I could have ever dreamed of.

As I stood in the elevator at the Wynn Hotel to head to my room that night, I was standing next to Rod Stewart.  He was wearing a denim jacket and his bangs were slightly reminiscent of how yours were the last time I saw you.  Any other moment in my life, I would have probably been star struck or at least, in awe of this famous singer.  But not that night... it was the night I had thought I finally found you again.  You were all I could think about. 

Life is really amazing.  All these people wander in and out of our lives like busboys in a restaurant.  And every once in awhile, someone becomes a permanent fixture, regardless if their moment in our life was lightning quick, and we never forget them.

You are one of those rare people.

I've got so many stories I will never get to share with you and I am sure you've got plenty more than me.