When I was just sixteen I dated the love of my life, Ed, for four years. We did everything together. We spent school days together walking to class. We spent summers at the pool. We celebrated our birthdays and holidays with each other and our families. No matter what we did, we were laughing. We really had an amazing time together.
Three years into the relationship he went away to college. I missed him like crazy. We talked on the phone. We visited when we could afford it. We sent personalized holiday cards, birthday cards, cards for everything. As time went by the cards became less personal, and they became less frequent. So did the phone calls. Season’s greetings were almost never exchanged anymore. After about 11 months it seemed as if the relationship that once was my world was now just a memory. I always wondered where Ed was, how he was doing, and was he the one who got away?
Nine years passed. I still thought about Ed once in a while, maybe a little more during the holiday season. I was working as a receptionist in a doctor’s office. It was the middle of December and I had “decked the halls” of the office with holiday décor, lights, and bells. Before I left one night I was hanging all the Season’s Greetings cards sent to the office and the doctor. As I hung the last card I noticed something oddly familiar. Inside the company president thanked the doctor for his business. At the bottom of the card, clear as day, I’d recognize that handwriting anywhere, “Best Wishes, Ed.” I couldn’t believe it, I hadn’t seen or heard from him in nine years and there was that familiar signature printed on the card. Could it be? Could it be my high school sweetheart, Ed?
I wasted no time calling the number on the card. It turns out it was my Ed and he had been thinking about me too! We were both single and lived fifteen miles from each other. That was 2 years ago that we finally found each other after nine years. We now live together and are getting married next month. We even have the holiday card that brought us back together framed in our family room!