Curses... Foiled Again

It just keeps getting better, doesn't it?

So I was looking forward to going to this wedding, end of the month. The sister of one of my closest friends growing up is getting married, and it would be the first chance I get to catch up with them in the 10 years since I moved to Nebraska-- they have since moved to Arizona, and Marie, who is getting married, has been in Tennessee with her fiancee for several years.

There was just one problem... okay, a couple problems. The end of it is, my parents decided to go to the wedding, but did not put me in for the RSVP. I'm not totally bitter about it. I was looking forward to catching up with Rob, Annie, and Marie, not to mention their father Dave-- who was my first boss, and my baseball coach. But the timing of it just isn't right-- it is the weekend following the first week of classes for the semester-- and for the first time in like 5 semesters, I have a Friday class. Doesn't make for good travelling time. But something more is hanging over me.

It's the return of the curse.

Nashville, Tennessee is not too far from southern Indiana. Southern Indiana happens to be where a very lovely young lady happens to live-- my best friend (and that is not a term I throw around). Now, my relationship with this friend has been subject to the curse before.

I met her (again, I use the terms on anonymity, as I don't know if she really wishes to be a part of this blog) during the summer of 2001-- my second year of junior hockey. It was a chance meeting online-- I was trying to contact her dad, who participates in a fantasy baseball league with me. She just happened to be online, on her dad's account-- and we just hit it off right away. But that would always hang over our heads. We were both leary of meeting online, so she (more than me... but still understandable) was not wanting to set up sometime to meet, in a random place. So we made a pact. If we were ever within 4 hours of each other, we could meet.

What is the significance of my second year of juniors? Well, that was the year that I signed to play in Cincinnati-- just a couple hours from her hometown of Tell City, Indiana.

The story goes, that I went through a regional camp in Indianapolis, for the team in Cincinnati, and was invited to training camp with them. Except, that I had already committed to training camp with Syracuse (a grave mistake), but Cincinnati told me, if you don't play in Syracuse, report to Cincinnati for the start of the season. I did-- but they were saddled with two goaltenders already, and wanted to see how they'd pan out. So after two and a half weeks, they loaned me to one of my many former teams in Winnipeg. The day I left Cincinnati-- September 11, 2001-- the day that changed the world, and certainly changed mine.

I was supposed to be in Cincinnati all season. There was no rush for us to meet-- though we had talked about it. It was just a matter of time before we would meet, right?

Wrong.

With the changing situation in the states, the exhibition games I was slated to be back in Cincinnati for--my audition, if you will-- (actually in Windsor, Ontario) were cancelled. An unhappy coach, who didn't want to send me out on loan, resigned, and I was left to play out my junior career in Winnipeg-- where I did meet my ex-fiancee, but still... a missed opportunity.

Yes, I was crushed to be in Winnipeg. But during my time up there, we became closer. I was struggling, I was unhappy, and my future was very much in doubt. Through it all, there she was-- keeping my spirits up, reminding me how I got there.

From there, we moved forward... while we still talked almost everyday online, we eventually moved up to phone calls. She was there through some of my roughest moments-- including my decision to end my tour of duty in juniors, come back home, and return to school (which was the plan all along-- I just bumped up the schedule a couple months).

But ever since, we've been on the phone talking, laughing, crying, drunk dialing (I seem to be her favourite target for that), through happiness, through breakups. She is a person, who no matter how bad I feel, just talking to her makes me feel better. She brings out the best in me-- the sides of me that I often don't let shine. And she's done all that without seeing time with me. And the roles have even switched from time to time. I was so happy for her when she got to study abroad in Greece, but we never expected her dad to fall ill with cancer. Watching her suffer through that (and the fact she wasn't told til she came home) broke my heart. And when she met Michael, watching her emotions turn from extacy to pain and back.

It's not often I don't show my jealous side, but I was legitimately happy for her finding someone, even if it meant I would have to take a back seat. But she knows, the words 'give up' mean nothing to me.

But always present, is the curse. Since our 4-hour agreement, every opportunity I have had to be in that position has been thwarted. The only time I was close enough, she was in Greece. I had planned to be in South Bend earlier this year-- had to stay behind for a hockey tournament. Could have been in southern Illinois-- where my dad grew up-- I ended up on the north side of Chicago for my grandmother's birthday (can you see the irony there?-- my grandmother, and aunt who constantly ask about my love life... and they're interfering with it). Somebody up there doesn't like me.

As you can tell, I'm anxious to meet her in person. I owe her a debt of gratitude. And I am still convinced that some day we will meet. Not that I'm just waiting around for her-- we have both dated since-- just that there are some people worth waiting for.

So you can tell how excited I was to be only 2-1/2 hours away from her. But the more I think about it, them more I realize this trip just wouldn't work out. It's the first week of classes for me-- which means it's probably the first week of classes for her-- which means she'll be in Bloomington, not Tell City. That, and if I'm in Tennessee shouldn't I be at the wedding?