A Letter To Heaven

Dear Jakob,

Though it‘s been 7 days since we last laughed together, I will never forget the night we first met. You had borrowed your father‘s tuxedo that night, I had borrowed my best friend’s dress.

There you were!

Standing awkwardly in the corner of the room by yourself that night, alone in a crowd of people. It was there, consumed by the crowd, as they swirled around us, that the first sight of you interrupted my thoughts and my dreams.

Your hair was jet black and razor-cut at the sides. You were tall and wiry, I recall. Your head was bowed slightly, your torso slouched, you seemed nervous, though I did not know you at all.

Had my gaze disrupted your thoughts, I wondered? But as a shy girl, I dared not introspectively ask. As you suddenly looked up and across the room that night, it was then that our eyes finally met.

From that moment, our two worlds collided into one, a moment I’ll never forget. As our friends swarmed around us, the rest of the night played out like a dream, and in the thick of the crowd, there you were.

We locked eyes like we were in a shared trance, that night, a trance that conjoined us as one. A trance that obliterated everyone there, though one day, we would have to awaken.

Though you were only six months older (than I) as I gazed upon you, shy and furtively from across the room. I gazed at you, not as the boy you were, but as the man, I dreamed you‘d become.

I‘ve often wondered over the years, as we have laughed together, fought together, and held each other close. Close enough for our hearts to synchronize. How lucky I am to have met you on that summer, candle-lit night. You were the boy of my dreams. The boy with the shining eyes. The aura within you, shined so bright.

Though our eyes met before we’d exchanged our first words, I knew that you were the one. Because from that night onward, it would only ever be you, my love.

That first glance when you smiled at me shyly, and you did that thing I‘ve grown to love about you. Yes, you bowed your head slowly, then looked up at me once more. With your eyes shining brightly in the candle-lit room. My heart skipped a beat at your gaze.

Was it a nod of recognition?

Had we met before?

No, I reasoned, we had not!

As for I, emboldened by your gaze, I returned it, as five fleeting seconds had passed. Though we were standing at opposite ends of a crowded room, that summer night, it was a moment of wonderment and delight.

Consumed by the moment, while nothing else mattered. Nothing else mattered but us. Time crystalized at that moment, for both of us, as the world went into slow motion. As I watched you, watching me from your corner in the room, on the night when we first met.

How tenderly your gaze was upon me, as the crowd (in my thoughts) dispersed. You advanced towards me, shy at first, as I steadily caught my breath. Our eyes remain locked on one another, as you advanced. Not once, did our eyes break away.

Though we were surrounded by laughter and chatter, when I first laid eyes on you, it seemed that it was just you and I, my love, on that enchanting, candle-lit, summer night.

Our beautiful reciprocity of love has endured forty summers abound. Our love will forever bond us. A love that no one could ever tear apart.

Now, I look at you tenderly, my heart can’t help but race once more. I lean toward you, to kiss you. Now, how I ache for your gaze. As I look upon you now, how I long to see your shining eyes, those eyes that shone so brightly on that night we first met.

Alas!

How I long for the warmth your lips once exuded; we were inseparable that summer, I recall.

While this will be the last time that I see you, my love, my heart races for you nevertheless. But now it‘s time to say goodbye and adieu my love, as I recollect the night we first met.

Author Ella Graysun