The One That Got Away

This was published in the Manila Times, I forgot the date though.


The One That Got Away
Mark J. Macapagal


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 that got away.

Who is the one that got away? I guess it's that person
with who everything was great, everything was perfect, but the
timing was just wrong. There was no fault in the person,
there was no flaw 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; inconsequentials become dealbreakers
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 really are. And when
this happens you'll be ready to settle down with someone.
He or she may not be the most perfect, they 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 that 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 that got away is.
The biggest "What if?" you'll have in your life.

If you're married, you'll just have to accept the fact
that the one that got away, got away.
Believe me, no matter how fairy tale you think
your marriage 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 marriage 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 that got away is the one who's already married.
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 that 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 that got away"
as well for the person who is your "the one that got away."
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 you know, I'm thinking, it would be a great feeling, in
the end, to be able to say to someone,

"Hey you, you're the one that ALMOST got away."