The One Who Got Away

In your life you’ll make note of a lot of people. Ones with whom you shared something special, ones who will always mean something. There’s the one you first kissed, the one you first loved, the one you lost your virginity to, the one you put on a pedestal, the one you’re with and the one who got away.

The one who got away is the person with whom everything was great, everything was perfect, but the timing was just wrong. There was no fault in the person, no flaws in the chemistry but the cards just didn’t fall the right way, I suppose. 

 

I believe in the fact that ending up with someone, finding a longtime partner that is, does not lie merely in the other person. I can actually argue that an equal part, or maybe even the greater part, has to do with the matter of timing. It has to do with you being ready to settle down and commit to someone in a way that goes beyond the little niceties of giddy romance.

How often have you gone through it without even realizing it? When you’re not ready to commit in that mature manner, it doesn’t matter who you’re with, it just doesn’t work. Small problems become big, inconsequential become deal-breakers simply because you’re not ready and it shows. It’s not that you and the person you’re with are no good. It’s just that it’s not yet right and little things become the flashpoint of that fact. Then one day you’re ready. You are now. And when this happens you’ll be ready to settle down with someone. This person may not be the most perfect. Or might not be the brightest star of romance to ever have burned in your life but it’ll work because you’re ready. It’ll work because it’s the right time and you’ll make it work. And it’ll make sense, it really will.

So that day comes when you’re finally making sense of things and you find yourself to be a different person. Things are different, your approach is different, you finally understand who you are and what you want and you’ve become ready because the time has truly arrived. And mind you, there’s no telling when this day will come. Hopefully you’re single but you could be in a long-term relationship, you could be married with three kids, it doesn’t matter. All you know is that you’ve changed, and for some reason, the one who got away is the first person you think about.

You’ll think about them because you’ll wonder, "What if they were here today?" You’ll wonder, "What if we were together now, with me as I am and not as I was?" That’s what the one who got away is.

The biggest "What if?" you’ll have in your life. If you’re already with a partner, you’ll just have to accept the fact that the one who got away, got away. Believe me, no matter how fairy tale you think your love story is, this can happen to the best of us. But hopefully you’re mature enough to realize that you’re already with the one you’re with and this is just another test of your commitment, one which will just strengthen your relationship when you get past it. 

 

Sure, you’ll think about him/her every so often, but it’s alright. It’s never nice to live with a "might have been" but it happens. Maybe the one who got away is the one who’s already with someone; in which case it’s the same thing. You just have to accept and know that your memories of that person will probably bring a nice little smile to your lips in the future when you’re old and gray and reminiscing. But if neither of that is the case, then it’s different. What do you do if it’s not yet too late? Simple…find him, find her. Because the very existence of a "one who got away" means that you’ll always wonder, what if you got that one. Ask him out to coffee; ask her out to a movie, it doesn’t matter if you’ve dropped in from out of nowhere. You’d be surprised you just might be "the one who got away" as well for that person. You might drop in from out of nowhere and it won’t make a difference. If the timing is finally right, it’ll all just fall into place somehow and in the end, it would be a great feeling to be able to say to someone, "Hey you, you’re the one who almost got away." I should know, because I have.