My family moved to Temple Texas midway through my junior year of highschool. This made my third highschool in as many years. Yes, my father was in the military, but it was actually his civilian job which caused us to move so often. He had been working at EDS for Ross Perot. Unfortunately, Mr. Perot had recently sold EDS to GM, and GM's first thing they did was fire everyone over the age of 45.
One of the first people I met at the new school was a shy young girl, also a junior, whom I fell instantly in love with. A love that lasts to this day. Unfortunately, she didn't reciprocate those feelings for me, at that time. Despite this, and unbeknownst to me at the time, she would become The One for me. You know, that one person in your life whom you compare everyone else in your life to, whether consciously or unconsciously. The one whom there will always be a place for in your heart. We'll call her Deanna.
We unfortunately only had a few months getting to know each other before she moved away. Though we remained friends, and she considered me to be her best friend, I didn't see her nearly as much as I would have preferred. I made it a point to go spend a day with her at least twice a month for the remainder of high school, as she only lived a couple hours away. (Interestingly enough, I find it weird when people won't drive fifteen minutes some place because it's "too far." While in Texas two hours away was considered close.)
My freshman year of college, I was at Texas A&M on their main campus in College Station. My little sister was still in highschool and part of the marching band. Our highschool football team would go on to become the state champions that year. On their road to that title, they were to play a game on Kyle Field. My sister, and family, would be there. So, naturally, I walked across campus and joined them at the game. This only made sense since I would be going home for the weekend after the game anyway.
Now Deanna had called me, and really wanted to talk to me, which is why I had agreed to come home. What Deanna didn't know, was I dating someone from back home at the time. What I didn't know was that my family had brought her with them to the game, and that she would be staying with us for the weekend. So unfortunately, I would not, as it turned out, be meeting Deanna that weekend after all. I would find out over a decade later that she had gotten pregnant, and wanted my help. Understandably, she was very upset that I wasn't going to come see her anymore.
That was the last time Deanna and I spoke until 2007. I was checking my MySpace page, and noted that I had a new message, and a new friend request (I think that was how that worked back then. I honestly can't remember how MySpace worked now). When I opened the message, it was from Deanna. I know that my heart must have turned inside out from the excitement I felt about this. I couldn't believe after all this time that she had found me.
We began chatting, and then talking over the phone. Every time we hung up, I would say "I love you!" to the dead air. Our conversations were long, often lasting for hours, as long as I didn't get a call at work to interrupt us (I was working as a Paramedic). She told me about her life, family, including kids, and a husband she was very unhappy with. Cellphone technology being what it was back then, I thought she had hung up but she heard me say, "I love you!" before I put my phone into my pocket to go take the job we had just been dispatched for. I got a text from her, "I heard that."