Somebody told me

Somebody told me there'd be days like this.  Years like this.

Save those pictures, she said.  Someday, they will be all that's left of me.   

We were discussing this pathological fear of intimacy some have.  She, on the couch and me, across the room in a folded chair.   Lots of irony in that conversation.  Months later, we laughed about it as I was putting my pants on. 

Should have saved those pictures as the ones in my mind are slowly fading like an old polaroid. 

The spotlight always shines brightest on the socially anxious.  Only in their minds, of course.   Somebody warned me we would come to this.

Save those pictures, she said.

The written word will be a lost art.  Save my words, she said.  Save my letters, she added.

I started to hoard anything sentimental.  From anyone who loved me long enough to send something.  Or say something.  Texts, emails, pictures, cards, letters.  Save those things you cannot buy, she said.  Save those things that come from a place of love, she added.

Her hand was on my inner thigh and she leaned in.  I learned about butterflies that summer.   She looks old now.  Tired, I mean. 

Should have saved those pictures.  Youth escapes us quickly.

Somebody told me there'd be years like this.  Nights like this.   

Midnight is where the day begins.  She wore lemon.  
Save these lyrics, she said.  They will have meaning later, she added. 

I wrote a list of things to talk about just before calling.  That level of neurosis is normal at that age.  Eventually, we outgrow the discomfort.  So, I thought.  Save that innocence, she said.   Save that humility, she added.

Somebody told me we would have years like this.

We were discussing time.  Time heals all wounds.  Idle hands, devil's workshop.  Better late than never.   Time flies when having fun.  Back and forth, throwing cliches at each other.

Time is the enemy of the busy, she said.  And the lazy, I added. 

I have to go now, I told her mid-conversation.  Unforeseen irony.

Save those pictures, she said.  Someday, they will be all that's left of me, she added.