The Goodbye

Prince Charming had to work until midnight that second night, which was a Friday. I had dinner plans with The Mother and The Sister and so after dinner I just had time to shave my legs and get pretty before he called and I headed up to his house in North Hollywood. When I arrived there was no moment of doubt, no question about how to act or whether he liked me. I walked up, he kissed me and we went into the house.

Being as sleep deprived as I was, the details of that night, and much of the rest of the weekend, are more blurred than I would like. But I guess that's a price you have to pay for such a strange and wonderful meeting as I had. At the end of the night, it was really sometime in the morning by this point, Prince Charming made good on a forced promise that I communicated from The Mother: he helped me get a few hours of sleep. While I lay with my head in the hollow of his shoulder (a spot that seemed made especially for me, even that early on), PC told me a story until I fell asleep.

* * *

My going away party on Saturday night was a rousing success. I was actually surprised and honored by how many people came and by the wonderful things that they did for me and said to me. I never thought that leaving LA would be so hard, but it really was. I made so many wonderful friends there, met such fantastic people, it made the city home to me in a way that it could never have been on its own. I spent half of the night sobbing my eyes out with my arms around people that I love.

Prince Charming had to work that night as well, but he made his way from Universal City to Santa Monica as soon as he was able to. On the third night he knew me, PC met The Sister and The Mother. I couldn't believe it myself. The Parents had not met a boy of mine since The Ex, which had been almost exactly 2 years earlier. (Actually, The Ex is the only post-high school boyfriend that The Father ever met. The Father is not an easy to approach sort of man and I would never subject my chicken-shit suitors to his imposing countenance.) Though the meeting was brief and The Sister was in the middle of strife with her own man, the first impressions were positive.

I went home with PC one last time that night and we spent the few remaining hours together that we had. I was nearly delirious from emotions and lack of sleep, but those few hours were worth the sleep deprivation.

It was on the drive back to the hotel room that we had rented near the party location that things had to get serious. There was no way that this meeting could have been dismissed as a few days of "fun". There was too much connection, too much exchanged to just leave it at that. Being the commitment-phobe that I am, this was the hard part for me. For the first time, I stammered, I balked, I was nervous. I even had doubts. How could we realistically enter into any sort of relationship after knowing each other for a mere THREE DAYS. But my momentary misgivings weren't enough - not even for this faint heart. In the end, we agreed that there was too much potential, too much connection not to give it a try. We didn't want to look back on this meeting and think, "What if we had?"

And so, at about 6:00 am on Easter Sunday (two years, to the holiday, since The Ex had ripped my heart out and left it lying on his sap-stained sidewalk) I kissed my new boyfriend (oh yes, I really just said that) goodbye, or rather, see you later. We made plans for him to visit me in Baltimore and vice-versa, and to talk later that day. And then I walked up the hotel stairs to pack my things and start the drive to Montana.

Lyrics of the Day

"I met someone at the bar. He had a great smile and a great heart. He felt just like love, except no fear of losing, and it wasn't tough." Maria Taylor Clean Getaway