Surprise

As a follow-up to my last entry, here's a quick recap of what's transpired since the last post.

I made my way to Capital Athletic Club last night to teach my twice-a-month yoga class there. Traffic getting into downtown was horrible and I raced into the studio part of the gym with only moments to spare. Still in a rush, I grabbed my MP3 player and attempted to locate the connector for the stereo. Gone. A bit of panic set in since I never carry CDs anymore and I flipped the stereo around to see if the connector had somehow fallen behind the unit. Nope. Not in sight.

5:29pm. One minute to start time. No music and I hadn't even given the class a proper greeting. Footsteps behind me. I glance over my shoulder and then audibly gasp. Jay is standing right there. I think I threw myself at him in a big bear hug but am not exactly sure because I was so shocked in the moment that the details of what exactly transpired totally escape me now. I do know that he looked pretty much the same as in junior high and that the rush of emotion I felt over seeing a long-standing and intense crush was nothing short of extremely intense. I'm sure, that on the scale of emotions, his were much lower than mine. I am, after all, the one who carried the very silent torch for many years.

Anyway. Our exchange was such a flurry that I didn't have a chance to see if he was wearing a wedding ring or not. He left the studio as quickly as he had come in and I was left to teach my class. Without music. And completely distracted.

After driving home later in the evening, I logged on to Facebook and sent him a note, thanking him for stopping in to say hello and telling him that he looked great. He wrote back this morning and asked when we could have a drink.

I figure that it's been at least 24 years since we've had any kind of exchange at all. He mentioned, in his email this morning, that perhaps we had crossed paths at the mall during our high school years and I do remember those "chance" meetings, but to me, that's all they were since he really never had any idea that my crush had evolved past junior high.

Until now.