A Missed Opportunity for Love

Because I didn't have the courage then to tell her how I really felt, she--as I recently discovered quite by accident--married someone else. The last time I saw her was four years ago when she was heading off to university. In the intervening years, we lost touch and ultimately went our separate ways.

I suppose I should be happy for her. Perhaps, she found in him what I lacked. He was the right one for her. I guess I was full of doubt back then wondering whether she was the right one for me. Does one really ever know for sure?

I recall a story told by a writer about a man who failed to marry a woman he loved, and because he lacked the courage to commit himself to her, she married his best friend instead. On the day she was to fly off on her honeymoon, she confessed to him that he was her true love. While in London, she threw herself under a subway train. Her new husband killed himself shortly thereafter.

As for the man, he went on to become successful financially and professionally. He dated a succession of women but never did settle down with any one woman. Despite his success and material wealth, the underlying emptiness of a love lost haunted him--a love he could never recapture. And for him, it was too late.