odes to "the one who got away"

"Often our pains over lost loves are the kind that hit us gently when we see a face that looks familiar, or pass a restaurant where we once enjoyed a good meal, or a bar where we caught the eye of a person who has since disappeared from our lives. They come up when we recall a decision we once made -- maybe in our teenage years, maybe six months ago -- that caused someone we loved, lustily, longingly or lightly, to drift or slam their way away. When we wonder where a person is, and whether they think about us, and how it is that we don't know the answer to that because we used to know everything that person was thinking."

that opening paragraph from salon.com's recent article on lost loves drew me right in. and so i proceeded to read six of its stories from people who were willing to share their melancholia. but it's quite good though: suitable for the eve of valentine's day and it touches on that rolheiser article i referred to a few postings ago about heartbreaks and commanding them to flee from us.

the story that takes the valentine cake for me though is the one entitled threesome. i particularly like the way it ends:

"I haven't heard from John in over seven years. But the baseball he gave me sits on the bookshelf next to my desk. I don't treat it with reverence or anything; I can't remember throwing it around, even in moments of great stress. But on some level, it's one of those possessions -- origins nearly forgotten -- that I'm careful not to let slip through my fingers."