I was six or seven years old and taking swimming lessons at a community pool and when I was out of the pool standing in front of the swings, I felt a soft tap on my back. <\/p>\n
I turned around and saw a cute, red-haired girl my age smiling at me. <\/p>\n
I was too young for boy girl romantic feelings and the power of flirtations back then, but something in me besides my back was touched. I think it was a budding romantic heart.<\/p>\n
Before any words were spoken, the red-haired girl\u2019s mother took her hand and walked away with her while she was looking back at me smiling.<\/p>\n
I never saw that red-haired girl again, but, curiously, I think about her now and then even as an old man. <\/p>\n
I\u2019ve often wondered what would have happened if I\u2019d met her again when she and I were old enough to fall in love, and I feel that would have happened. <\/p>\n
I wonder how her life turned out. Did she have a full and happy life? Is she still alive? What was her name? But, alas, I\u2019ll never find out any of those things.<\/p>\n
Sometimes in overly imaginative moments, I\u2019ve wondered if I\u2019ll see her again in the afterlife.<\/p>\n
Maybe she’ll be there as a beautiful, red-haired woman and tap me softly on my back, and I’ll turn around and fall in love with her.<\/p>\n
And for reasons unclear to me, I got a little teary-eyed writing this poem. <\/p>\n
Bob Boyd<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was six or seven years old and taking swimming lessons at a community pool and when I was out of the pool standing in front of the swings, I felt a soft tap on my back. I turned around and saw a cute, red-haired girl my age smiling at me. I was too young… Continue reading