A second date, several weeks ago with an old friend , was to go for a walk in a beautiful ravine.
I love a walking talk. Or a talking walk.
So many questions and answers and the further unravelling as you do.
There was absolutely no one there so it was easy to be undistracted making me more aware of the way things showed themselves.
Out of no where, from the other direction there was a couple, high school sweethearts, who married and had a family, out for a walk, coming towards us.
We said ‘hello’ and caught up briefly – they are not people I know well.
I did think how funny it was that I was out with this man, someone else’s ex husband, the father of someone else’s children, someone they also knew, and me with my story and my path. And them, with what appeared to be an enviable amount of uncomplicatedness, together 30 or more years, out laughing and walking and talking .
All four of us on this otherwise empty path, two going in one direction and two going in the other.
I looked at them and thought after all these years together they were out doing what we had chosen to do on our second date.
Nice. Reassuring. Something to remember for my next marriage.
And then I found out later that they had split a few months prior.
Life is so surprising. Everyone at any given time is struggling with something.