I began typing this yesterday, but it got very long very fast. Here is the condensed version.
This is pointless, and in all likelihood you will not care. This is kind of a cheesy romance thing, so if you arent into that, this probably isnt the thread for you. You have been warned.
I just finished my senior year of high school. There are a plethora of things that made it a memorable year for me… But I think that one person may have made my year, just in this past week or so.
Last August, our school got a handful of foreign exchange students. Some from Germany, from India, from Korea, etc. I felt bad for them - we have a wonderful high school (it has been referenced as the “taj-ma-high” by one of our state politicians,) but out of all of the places in the US they could have wound up, they were dumped into central Indiana. A long term friend of mine, who I will refer to as Amy, quickly befriended one of the German exchance students that was in her French class. That is how I came to know Liz (not her real name either.)
I first met her when I dropped Amy off at one of the football games - she was taking Liz to her first one. We weren’t really introduced, but I knew they were talking about me when I pulled away.
When I picked Amy up, she told me Liz thought I was cute. I was flattered, but didn’t take action on it. She was an exchange student, and it was a pretty hectic year for me. So I left it at that.
Some time later though, Liz’s host family had a problem, and could no longer keep her with them. She had to find somewhere else to go. So, after what I’m sure was a stressful couple days, she wound up with Amy’s family. Amy’s family is very close to mine - I have known Amy and her brother and sisters for as long as I can remember, so naturally, I begam seeing Liz much more. I knew she liked me, because she showed it, and because Amy kept telling me about it, but I had and still have alot of crazy things going on, so I again declined to take action. It went on like that for a while… until this summer.
This summer, I was over there a lot, and Amy kept telling me that I should at least give Liz the time of day. I liked her, and she was pretty, so I dont know why I didnt - I just didnt. Until one day, we wound up spending some time together at a friends pool. We didnt talk very much, but when we did, we got on to the topic of baseball, and how she had never seen a game of it. After some conversation, I accidentally promised to take her to a game. She also asked me to sign her flag - an American flag that she carried around with her, and had all her new friends sign. I wrote my name on it, but couldnt think of a message - so I told her not to let me forget, and that I would think about what to write. And that was that.
I knew at this time that Liz liked me, a lot. I felt bad because I wasn’t really acknowledging her, but… I dont know, I just didnt really.
Finally, we scheduled a baseball game. We planned to go downtown and watch an Indians game. I was nervous - which surprised me. I picked her up that night, and we were off. The game was fun, and even though I dont think she understood what was going on (although I tried to explain it) we had a great time. We even decided to prolong the experience by walking around downtown Indy afterwards. We ended up getting lost, there and on the way home, but that only added to the fun. It was amazing. That was this last Friday.
Her flight back home was yesterday. We spent some of the weekend together, and we met up again monday night. Our plans failed, so we ended up just walking around together and talking. That is when she told me just how strongly she felt about me, and when it hit me. I’d known her for the entire year she’d been here, and we talked quite often, but I had never really given a relationship a chance. The last week with her, however, had been wonderful. She told me that I would always be special when she thought back to her experience in the US. I wont post exactly what she said, because it was long, but I had no idea that the time we’d spent together meant that much to her. (We had a couple “dates” if you could call them that, but others were with us and she is very shy, so I didnt really know she liked me that much.) That she wished we could have had more. That night, I signed her flag. Most people wrote a sentence, but mine turned into a small paragraph. We talked into the morning.
Her flight was at 2 pm yesterday. She sent me a text from the plane just before take off.
I cried when my first long term girlfriend broke up with me in junior high. Since then, I’ve dated a few girls, and never have I cried about them. But when I got the text that she sent me from the plane, it tore me up. If I hadn’t of been with some of my buddies, I probably would of cried, no doubt. I texted her back as quickly as I could, but got no respone, so I wasnt sure if she got it. I got her reply as I was typing the original version of this yesterday, because she had a layover in new jersey. It was the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.
I know I only REALLY got to spend a week close to her, although we had feelings for each other through the entire year… but I’m really going to miss Liz. We can keep in touch through facebook of course, and skype, but thats not the same. I feel like an idiot for not spending more time with her, but like I said, I have had a lot going on. I guess now I know I shouldnt let that kind of stuff get in the way. I wasnt going to post this, because I’m really not into dramatic stuff, but I’m pretty upset that shes gone. Inevitably we will grow apart, and I hate that.
I guess this wasnt pointless. It is a perfect example of that over used, cheesy saying, “you dont know what you’ve got until its gone.”
I cant explain it all, or express all my thoughts in this thread, but there is my vent.