three times a lady
Of all the human experiences in life, falling in love is the exhilaration of the human condition. Going through adolescence, many experience puppy love and infatuation, but not the life-changing excitement that is associated with great love in one’s life. For many, this kind of great love only happens once in a lifetime. I guess I’m one of the lucky ones to have experienced a lady three times in my life.
It was the summer of ’67. I was a lifeguard at Camp Conference Point on Lake Geneva. Little did I know how a beautiful young woman could have such a profound effect on the rest of my life. For the rest of that summer we were as one. Then, as suddenly as she walked into my life, she was gone. I learned to cope with losing her, but the memory of her has stayed with me through the years.
Years later I married the mother of my children. Then again, after 10 years through more downs than ups, we parted ways. I guess it was unavoidable. From the start, the deck was stacked against us. After a few years of soul searching, it happened again. A Saturday night in 1983, what a lady and what a night it happened to me.
Little did he know that in an instant the mutual spontaneity of attraction that quickly blossomed into the greatest love he had ever known lasted 4 short years. As her illness progressed, I wished I could have done more. After her passing, there were others, but none could replace what she did for me.
It had been more than 12 years of blindly searching for love but, in reality, they never found it. Somehow, after all those years of trying, I ended up in Florida still looking for the last great love. Little did I know that once again love would finally cross my path. Luckily, she was standing right next to me. For weeks I taught her swimming, and as she progressed, the student quickly became a teacher. Now 22 years have passed since those pool days. As we get older with the passage of time, we have overcome many of life’s problems, but we always manage to give love in return.
Those memories of great joy and ecstasy stifled by life’s tragedies have been dimmed by the passage of time. So lucky I have been to have experienced a life filled with joy, triumph in the midst of great sadness and loss. Even now, in the autumn of my life, I am lucky enough to say three times that a lady passed me by.
