You know how sometimes you see someone accross the street who catches your eye and you know full well you'll never get to see them again. Think of all the missed connexions listed on various websites, a long list of people who think they came across someone who they wanted to get to know, but they'll probably never get the opportunity to do so. And then you think about how your soul mate is doing something, somewhere, right at this moment, and you have no idea what it is. Or you may have already even met them. Then comes the question of lust versus love, perhaps if you'd had the opportunity to speak to that person you thought was attractive they'd turn out to be the most annoying human you'd ever come across... But equally they may capture your imagination, talking to this person for an hour or two, or even a couple of minutes. Then they disapear and you have no way of finding them again, unless fate brings your paths together again. You're thinking of things you'd love to find out about this person for the following couple of days. Then slowly, you begin to think about them less and less and they just become some person you met one time, but you'd still love the opportunity to get to know them more. Then from time to time, they'll pop up in your mind again, you'll sit there wondering if they still remember you or if they tried to look for you after you met, if they'd recognise you if you ever met again, or even if you'd recognise them.
You see, once I came across that person, that mysterious person you chat to for a while, just because. In my case I happened to be sat next to this person on a two hour flight. We were both travelling alone and of a similar age and he needed a pen to fill in his immigration form so I lent him mine. He asked me about my accent, I asked him about his. Turns out he was from America, he was on a course abroad studying about European litterature. I spoke to him about what I was studying at the time, and how I myself was planning a year abroad in the States. We both agreed that it was funny how everyone thinks the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. I told him how my family and I had moved abroad when I was young and learnt two languages growing up which he found fascinating as all he wanted to do was learn another language. He spoke to me about his home town, and I told him about mine and we both agreed that they were places we'd love to visit. We chatted about how much we liked each other's countries and discussed to pros and cons of growing up in Europe as opposed to America and I told him about the differences between the two countries I'd lived in, which he said he'd noticed during the time he'd spent in there. I found out that he was a writer, he'd written a play, a musical, that was currently being performed in his city. I told him how I found it amazing when people write music, I couldn't imagine being able to write a song even though I was a writer - well, I was being paid to do some writing anyway.
Once the plane landed, he helped me get my bag out of the overhead locker. We walked off the plane together and I went to use the restroom. Once I came out I could still see him in the distance. Striding along not looking back. I promissed myself if I caught up with him before we left the airport I'd ask him for his name and a phone number or email adress. Needless to say, I don't travel lightly, so I had to wait for about ten minutes for my bag to arrive on the carrousel, by which time he'd disapeared out of sight. I knew that was it when I remembered that he wouldn't be traveling on a european passport, therefore he'd have to go through the immigration process which would take forever. At that point I accepted that I'd never see him again, but I felt I had enough information to try and look him up. Although I didn't have his name, I knew what his play was about and where is was being performed so I gave myself one last chance to track him down and promissed myself that if I didn't find him that way, I'd let it go and would put it down to fate and that it wasn't meant to be.
Once I got to my hotel, I entered my wifi code and got to work. I had nothing to do that evening so I wasn't wasting time doing this as opposed to working, is was just as fun side project, just me having a go at finding someone about whom I had very little information. I felt like a spy for a while, about an hour or two, going through websites listing plays that were on that week. Needless to say, I couldn't find his name, so a drew my search to a close and accepted that I'd never be able to find him and I'd have to wait and see if our paths cross again in the future. We both had simillar hopes for life so it was a possibility, albeit a small one.
So I'm waiting to see if it was meant to be, if I should've asked him for his name, if I should've would've, could've.... You can't turn back time.
