Scenario: You are walking quickly down a city street and bump into another person, causing both of you to fall to the ground. Upon helping the person up, you realize it’s someone from your high school you haven’t seen in over ten years. Write the conversation.
“Umphf.”
Well, that was graceful. I thought as I hit the sidewalk tangled with the woman who had just ran into me as she stepped out of Starbucks.
“Oh. My. God! Are you alright? Oh….oh my….I cannot believe….” The leggy blonde stammered as we unwound ourselves from one another. “It’s been, what, like ten years?”
“No, no, I’m fine. Are you okay?”I blinked several times as I stood trying to get my bearings and figure out who this woman was. Looking at her confusedly for a moment when I finally recognized her. Christen Hough. We went to high school together but I hadn’t seen her since the summer after graduation. I heard she married the quarterback from our high school while still in college and they had a few kids.
“Holy cow! Christen, I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize you for a minute. You look great. Yeah, it’s been at least that long. How are you?”
“Lord, honey, let me tell you. Three kids, a dog and one good for nothing ex-husband later and I’ve dropped about thirty pounds over the last year. Well, two hundred and thirty if you count the ex-husband as the dead weight I lost. Are you sure you’re alright?” She reached out and touched my arm to emphasize her concern.
“Yeah, yeah, really I’m fine. Oh no, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you and Chris split up.” I waved her off and concentrated on the important part of what she had just told me.
“Lord girl, don’t be sorry. He was runnin’ around on me. I caught him in….well, let’s just say a compromising position with his secretary. It all worked out in the end. Me and the kids are better now. “ Christen laughed it off but it was easy to see she wasn’t feeling as blasé about the circumstances of her divorce as she let on.
“Well, I’m glad to hear that you’re doing better. How old are your kids?”
Christen’s smile spread across her face and she lit up like a Christmas tree at the mention of her kids. She immediately reached into her purse to pull out a small photo album and opened it up to show three of the most beautiful children I have ever seen.
“Let me show you their pictures. Robert is 8, Sophia is 6 almost 7and Joshua is 4, almost 5. He and Sofia are only like sixteen months apart. It was crazy there for a little while.”
“Oh God! They are so cute!”
She flipped a few pages and it was obvious how much Christen loved her kids.
“Hey, do you have time to get a coffee? We could catch up a little?” I asked hoping she would be able to hang out for a little while. We were good friends in high school and I was always sad that we lost contact after we left for college. I headed off to Dartmouth while she stayed here attending UW.
Of course, moving across the country was the best thing I ever did and there was no way I would regret meeting the love of my life that first year at Dartmouth, so definitely no complaints here.
“Oh, honey, I would love to but I’ve got to met Chris to pick up the kids. This was his weekend, so I’ve got to meet him in,” she looked down to check her watch. “Shoot! I’ve gotta go, I’m supposed to meet him in about fifteen minutes. God, it was so good seeing you! We really should get together sometime. “ She began fumbling around in her purse for an unknown object. “Here, here’s my business card. It has my cell number on it. Call me and we’ll get together. Have a girl’s night and just catch up. Okay?”
“Absolutely, I’ll give you a call. It was so good to see you and we most definitely have to get together sometime soon.” I slipped her card in my back pocket and we said our goodbyes.
It was really good to see her again. I’m most definitely giving her a call. I thought as I entered the Starbucks and got in line to order my daily staple of a Grande Caramel Macchiato.
I don’t think I would have held it together as well as Christen if that were me, if I were in the same position the devastation would have been epic. I know that I would have fallen completely apart if my marriage would have fallen apart the way Christen’s did. I just have to send out a prayer of thanks and realize how lucky I am at this point in my life to have beautiful children and a husband that would rope the moon for me if asked it of him.
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