In My Memory

September 25, 2018

Although a typical line on a gravestone may read "Dance on" I want mine to make clear the day the course of my life changed, whether for good or bad we will let my future almost dead self-decide on that one. However, mark my words "September 25" will be the last words people will see written in my memory.

I had moved into a new apartment a week prior to this day. Serena, a short cute girl with a button nose, roomed with me. She had a dog almost two years older than mine and unlike me knew how to take care of one. She had spent the majority of the week holed up in her room talking to her boyfriend, Leonardo, over the phone. He was visiting some friends he had made in Washington while he was on his mission with the church. Serena seemed to ignore the world whenever she spoke to him. The smile that decorated her face was contagious and spread throughout the five other girls who lived in the apartment. I think all of us sort of felt like we knew him from the amount of talking they did. I found her open personality admirable since I found it so difficult myself to share my own life.

The particular night that changed my life held an ambiance of a certain movie quality you can only find in old time films. Although I did not feel it at the time, in retrospect I should have felt the significance of it. I was captivated by his eyes the second he walked through the door. A deep brown with eyelashes so long they fanned his cheeks. I would come to know in time that he could use technology like that on his face because he easily became overheated. His name was Lucas and he smelled like citrus. I guess I tried to lie to myself and reason with my mind... There was no way a man like that would ever go for a woman like me. Yet, as we made plans to head food shopping there was a light atmosphere that provided me comfort.

As we piled into the car I found myself squished in the middle with my little sister Charlie to my left and Lucas to my right. I was wearing a light jacket but with the heater blasting in my face I began to get really hot. "I'm sweating like a pregnant nun."

Lucas turned to me laughing. "I haven't heard someone say that since my mission." He had talked to me and was now holding his hand up to high five me. I tried to play it off and act cool, but my face must have been beet red. I slowly brought my hand up and made contact with his.

"Valentina says weird things like that all of the time Lucas, you should get used to it if you plan on sticking around." Charlie chimed in.

"I plan on it," Lucas replied. Leonardo looked at me in the rearview mirror and suggestively shook his eyebrows. I looked at him in mock misunderstanding. This was the beginning of something truly tragically magnificent.