Missing You

After church and in the pouring rain, I had to make a stop at Home Depot. Unlike what their commercials portray not every employee is knowledgeable, but this unknowledgeable one sent me to one that was. And as I waited for my required item, my jam came on. First, there was Let's Chill by Guy, followed by I'll Be Your Baby, Tonight.

I was singing along, moving slightly as I waited. I so wanted to scroll down my phone book and hit the phone button that would allow me to talk to my friend since the age of ten, when she somehow had her first day of school coincide with the last day of school before Christmas vacation, Grace. I wanted to call her and tell her what was playing. Laugh and take a trip down memory lane, but I couldn't.

After endless years of friendship, we are currently on hiatus. Over the years as TTT have taken over, we didn't get together as much or talk as much. At some point, the girl whom I spent every birthday with, visited every day after I got out of summer school, who had lunch with me every week at my new job, became the person I saw once or twice a year. But she was always there for those "Can you believe this just happened" calls, even if we hadn't really talked in months.

On hiatus means no talking or I'm sure I could email her but I wouldn't get a response back. It means second guessing if I should send her a Christmas card or an update on TTT. Most days, it's okay. God had slowly weaned us off of each other, but it's songs in Home Depot or incidents like the one I'm about to describe which make me wish we our new season of life together would start up.

One summer afternoon as I was driving home from work, a car tried to pull up next to me. I assumed the car wanted to make a right hand turn. The street was small, but I tried to be accommodating and moved over so the car could turn. As the light turned green, I noticed the car didn't turn, which I thought was odd but I kept driving. Some blocks later, I looked in my rear view mirror and I saw the same car was behind me and my panic alarm was about to be pushed. Was this car following me? I sped quickly across one intersection only to observe the car do the exact same thing. All of my 48 Hour Mystery, Dateline knowledge started jumping into the foreground of my mind.

I remembered the woman who pulled her hair out by the root and a ring she never pulled off her finger and buried them in between the car seats so someone could know she was there. I was ready to do that and dial 9-1-1. I started driving through stop signs and looking to make the next left turn so I could be on a major street. I was close to home, but there was no way I was leading a killer there. As I signaled to turn left, the car pulled up next to me.

"What does a guy have to do to get your attention?" the twenty-something-year-old asked me.

Uh, not stalk me? I shrugged my shoulders. Cause really what was I going to say to the guy who had me playing my episode of ID's Disappeared in my head.

"Can I get your number?" he continued.

"No, but thank you for asking," I answered politely. Plus while I'm flattered I'm so hot that you decided to stalk me...how exactly do you know I'm hot when we weren't even driving beside each other?

"Please."

"I can't I'm married," I said, showing him the ring on my left hand.

"We can be friends, then," he continued.

Dude, are you serious? Really?! I say, I'm married and you say, we can be friends? "No, we can't. My husband wouldn't like it."

"All three of us could be friends. We could go out to breakfast."

"I don't think my husband would like that."

The man nodded his head and smiled. "You tell your man, he's got a good one. A good one."

"Thanks," I responded, then let him make a left hand turn first off the side street. I needed to make sure he went on his way before I continued home. He turned and drove in the opposite direction of me. As I left, I thought how sad that 1. he thought following a woman was a great way to get her to talk to him; and 2. he wasn't detoured when I said I was married. I realized obviously the following ploy had worked for him before, I couldn't be the first chick he had tried it on. And that he had talked to other women who had told him they were involved or married, yet had still given him their numbers upon his continued rap. How sad that my slight lie impressed him. How sad he was amazed he had met a woman, who said she had a man, and was faithful to her man and didn't want a "friend."

As soon as he left, I wanted to call Grace and share this tale with her. She would have found it hilarious. I knew no one would get the craziness of the whole situation like she would. Okay, Chi would have, but heavens knows she never answers her phone. Not quite sure why she has one.

God has blessed me with some amazing relationships since our hiatus. Friendships that have encouraged me, strengthened me, changed me. And I am ever so grateful for that, for my growing relationships with two wild and crazy sisters that live on the other side of the moon, but there are those moments when I just miss my Lizabeth, mi Graciela, and wished we weren't on hiatus. Maybe with a change of heart and tons and tons of prayer, our new season will begin.




Since you've been away
I've been down and lonely
Since you've been away
I've been thinking of you
Trying to understand
The reason you left me
What were you going through?

I'm missing you
Tell me why the road turns
Ooh ooh
I'm missing you
Tell me why the road turns