When we first met, your smile dazzled me. Your obnoxious repetition claiming that “Today… Today… Today… was the greatest day of your life… life… life” made me laugh and delight in the specialness you surrounded me with. Somehow, it was the greatest day when I met you.

The late summer day, seemingly hand-picked for me and you, was filled with the smells of roasting meat, keg beer breath, and puffs of cigarette smoke filling our nostrils as we watched people fall from the sky, who sent up joyous shouts of euphoria. It’s not everyday you see your friends and colleagues jump out of airplanes. It’s not every day that you meet the love of your life.

You were that, you know. You used to say, “Don’t ever let me go,” but you forgot to take heed of your own plea. Slowly our grasps got loose, and we let our love slip away. No one knew, and we refused to see it ourselves for many years.

The water under the bridge, swept it away. We stood in the muck, wondering where do we go and how do we get there?

Our feet firmly planted in the clay of our making, we looked around for a lifeline, a cord or switch with which to take us ashore. Unfortunately, our rescue came from separate saviors. My lead taking me away from you as you watched, choosing to stay where you were, anticipating. When none came, you sat down and gave up.

I sent a ship for you to carry you home, but you refused to board it. As the mud caked your boots, and it started to sink in that I could not get to you, you started your long journey to a place where I could no longer go.

Sometimes, despite all the wants of the heart, the bleeding cannot be abated by a dentist. A smile will not repair the cracks in the chest. And even though the braces are removed, the retainer that keeps everything in order gets lost, the smile fades, the crooked path leads to another, better equipped physician, who touches the cracks of the heart, seeing past the broken smile, attempting to repair the emptiness the greatest day of our lives has ever given.