Saturday, March 8, 2008

Veronika...and Swedish Thoughts...


Well, as promised, as if you all care, I decided to sort through thousands of photographs and came up with the novel idea of writing about them - I have honestly only 'loved' five women in my life, and the number that I have 'LOVED' - (in the secular sense) is pretty much the same - I have never been the fan of the one night stand - it sucks to invest, and then feel guilty or stupid for it. Some people can do it, but I think it leaves the shell empty, and the soul sorry and weak.

With that being said, these blogs might bore you to death, but it funny how we all have memories in our lives, and they are stages as well - it is therapeutic to me to put these things down on paper - and I really don;t care who is reading, I prefer to get it out there, and then, perhaps, read it ten years from now...

Speaking of which, my parents actually had one of the typewritten copies of my poetry - I am scared to read it, but hell, we shall see what they say...

None the less, Veronika was an exchange student from Halmstad, Sweden. I remember the first day I saw her at cross country practice, it was, for me, a first - actually some interest in a girl (sure I had interest in girls, but this was head over heels stupid interest)- I worked as a stockboy at the local Giant grocery store, and can remember buying those "foreign" chocolates and candies - boy I was absolutely way down the road of young love - she was exciting to me, her english (at first) was a little choppy, but I have to admit that her Swedish was much better than mine...

I think the funniest memory that I have is the last day that she was in the states - that's the picture of us with me in the coolest Izod purple striped button up shirt that you have ever seen (admit it - you are jealous). I have photographs of the entire day, the terminal at the airport in Norfolk, the gift that I gave her, her parking her car in our driveway - it was a crushing day for a sixteen year old kid who actually had fallen in love, but it was a clear day and I still remember much of it.

I was a junior in high school, and there was a large amount of learning that year - I think we all learn those two years, and then we go on to college and learn how to drink away all of the morals and feelings we were supposed to develop at home. Veronika was a mystery, a strange and new galaxy to me, and I still can honestly say that she is one of my best friends in the world - we still keep in touch, I get a Christmas card and the occassional email, I call at Christmas, and it's funny to hear about her husband and her children, and what we have grown into - I always thought she would be a doctor or a lawyer, I think she always thought I would be a writer - she does work in the medical field, and I work in the finance field - I guess we do change when we realize we have to get in line, and march to the pay window...

Veronika and Eric came and visited us in Orlando prior to either of us getting married - it was a wierd feeling to spend time with someone that you felt so much for, and realize that a stage in your life had passed, and you had changed into a new place, a different place - I knew that there was still something there, but it became more of a friendly love and respect -

A world away, six hours time difference, and twenty years do wonders for the memories, but the best ones stick around - and the worst ones, well, why waste the time dwelling on them - so let's all raise our glasses to the simple beauty of first loves and first loves lost - it has molded all of us into who we are today, and we should be able to appreciate that every once in a while...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi there

Looking forward to your next post