An unexpected email gives Keith Anderson a chance at a happy ending (take two).
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I checked my email a couple of weeks ago and was quite surprised when a certain name and email address appeared. I sat and thought; memories rushing through my mind. It has been 23 years since we last connected, and its wasn’t a happy ending.
In those years, I have garnered a more mature outlook on how and why people behave the way they do, and that includes my own behaviour. Any “not so good” thoughts have evolved or long since been forgotten. In those year, I’ve often thought about her and where her life has taken her.
Today, we have texted and even spoken on the phone. Our lives have of course been different. Different events. Different countries. But she said to me, and I think it quite apt, “We are old friends… and now new friends.” We have such a history and then such a gap. We have shared memories and tried to remember others, to no avail, must be our ages!
One thing we both remember is that we laughed a lot. And it’s nice to find out that we still do! In my recovery from depression, I came to learn how to truly laugh and enjoy! Well, I am putting that to great use now. Perhaps our best laughs these last two weeks have been about ourselves. Never too proud to realize our lives, though tragic and difficult at times, also included many events to be considered humourous. I can even laugh about some aspects of my life with depression.
It’s interesting to learn what she has encountered. We share depression. We share the loss of family. We share a mutual respect. This is something that hasn’t, and will never change though many years have come and gone, and are yet to arrive with new challenges.
So my first love has resurfaced. What happens, who knows? But it’s wonderful to share again. This time with a level of understanding and acceptance that were lacking in the past.
Funny how an unexpected email can give you a second chance at that happy ending.
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Original article appeared at Keith Anderson LL.B., LL.M. Reprinted with permission.
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Photo credit: Getty Images
I can relate to your story, but via a man I have been involved with romantically for three and a half years. He, too, was a lawyer. Ten years ago he “borrowed” client’s money to bail his family out financially, had a nervous breakdown and ended up in prison and being struck off. Since being released, he suffers from depression and has turned to alcohol to cope, but manages, mostly, to be a functioning alcoholic. He plays organ in church and advises people as a family lawyer, but has no money as he spends it all on drink and cigarettes.… Read more »