I got to re-read this article few days ago when it was emailed to me. I remember reading this the first time (years ago) it did not struck at all or shall I say I never wanted to be. But in life there is a constant change, and at some point in your life whether you are in your early 20s, past 30s, life beginning at 40s or in your golden years or so, definitely there’s some part of it that you can relate so.
The one that got away
Source: The Manila Times
By: Mark J. Macapagal
In your life, you’ll make note of a lot of people. Ones with whom you
shared something special, ones who will always mean something. There’s
the one you first kissed, the one you first loved, the one you lost your
virginity to, the one you put on a pedestal, the one you’re with…and
the one that got away.
Who is the one that got away? I guess it’s that person with who
everything was great, everything was perfect, but the timing was just wrong.
There was no fault in the person, there was no flaw in the chemistry, but the
cards just didn’t fall the right way, I suppose.
I believe in the fact that ending up with someone, finding a longtime
partner that is, does not lie merely in the other person. I can
actually argue that an equal part, or maybe even the greater part, has to do
with the matter of timing. It has to do with you being ready to settle down
and commit to someone in a way that goes beyond the little niceties of
giddy romance.
How often have you gone through it without even realizing it? When
you’re not ready to commit in that mature manner, it doesn’t matter who you’re
with, it just doesn’t work. Small problems become big; inconsequentials
become dealbreakers simply because you’re not ready and it shows. It’s
not that you and the person you’re with are no good; it’s just that it’s
not yet right, and little things become the flashpoint of that fact.
Then one day you’re ready. You really are. And when this happens you’ll
be ready to settle down with someone. He or she may not be the most
perfect, they might not be the brightest star of romance to ever have burned in
your life, but it’ll work because you’re ready. It’ll work because it’s
the right time and you’ll make it work. And it’ll make sense, it really
will.
So that day comes when you’re finally making sense of things, and you
find yourself to be a different person. Things are different, your approach
is different, you finally understand who you are and what you want, and
you’ve become ready because the time has truly arrived. And mind you,
there’s no telling when this day will come. Hopefully you’re single but
you could be in a long-term relationship, you could be married with
three kids, it doesn’t matter. All you know is that you’ve changed, and for
some reason, the one that got away, is the first person you think about.
You’ll think about them because you’ll wonder, “What if they were
here today?” You’ll wonder, “What if we were together now, with me as I am
and not as I was?” That’s what the one that got away is. The biggest “What
if?” you’ll have in your life.
If you’re married, you’ll just have to accept the fact that the one
that got away, got away. Believe me, no matter how fairy tale you think your
marriage is, this can happen to the best of us. But hopefully you’re
mature enough to realize that you’re already with the one you’re with
and this is just another test of your commitment, one which will just
strengthen your marriage when you get past it. Sure, you’ll think about
him/her every so often, but it’s alright. It’s never nice to live with
a “might have been,” but it happens.
Maybe the one that got away is the one who’s already married. In which
case it’s the same thing. You just have to accept and know that your
memories of that person will probably bring a nice little smile to you!
lips in the future when you’re old and gray and reminiscing.
But if neither of that is the case, then it’s different. What do you do
if it’s not yet too late? Simple…find him, find her. Because the very
existence of a “one that got away” means that you’ll always wonder,
what if you got that one?
Ask him out to coffee, ask her out to a movie, it doesn’t matter if
you’ve dropped in from out of nowhere. You’d be surprised, you just might be
“the one that got away” as well for the person who is your “the one that got
away.”
You might drop in from out of nowhere and it won’t make a difference.
If the timing is finally right, it’ll all just fall into place somehow and
you know, I’m thinking, it would be a great feeling, in the end, to be
able to say to someone, “Hey you, you’re the one that almost got away.”
Read More
Conversations