Maybe in the future

Maybe in the future

Oh, hello there.  We haven't spoken in a while - a while as in nearly ten years or so.  In fact, if it weren't for the numerous times you appear in my childhood photo albums, I'm not sure I'd remember you.  But there you are, on nearly every page, at birthday parties and trips to the zoo and swimming lessons.  So there you are in my memory, despite how long it's been, how young we were.   

I still think about you every now and then, like right now, when it's so late that no one's on facebook but I don't feel like going to bed.  I like to wonder where you are, make up stories in my head about the kind of person you've become.  You're a gamer nerd, or a prodigal violin player, or a normal teenage guy who plays basketball.  You're tall and lanky, probably, more limb than muscle.  Maybe a little bit clumsy, but sweet to your little sister.  I like to think that maybe you've developed some of the same ideas as me - hatred toward Twilight, an appreciation for classic rock, a love of Harry Potter.  Maybe you have a hobby I never would've guessed, like surfing or playing the drums.     

Maybe you think about me too, sometimes.  Maybe you wonder where I am, who I've become.  But then again - maybe I've built you up, set you on a golden pedestal in my mind.  Maybe you've no recollection of who I was, who I am.  Maybe - actually, not maybe at all - I've watched too many romances, read too many novels.  Maybe this fairy tale is only that - a tale in my head, imaginary. 

Maybe it's a good thing I can't find you.  Maybe I'd just be setting myself up for disappointment at who you're not.  Maybe someday, you'll come back around, and I'll run into you at a grocery store or a coffee shop or maybe in college.  And maybe you'll have a guitar on your back or a basketball under your arm, or maybe I won't recognize you at all.  Maybe I'll just say excuse me and move on.

But maybe later that night I'll be alone in the quiet, and I'll think about you, wonder where you are, who you've become.  And maybe somewhere nearby or far away, you'll be thinking the same thing.