The One That Got Away
reverendhornibastard
Depraved Deacon of Degeneracy
Most people (both men and women) spend their lives wondering about “the one that got away.” I’m among those who still thinks about and pines for “the one that got away.”
Her name was “Sandy.”
The photo on the link below is not of Sandy. Unfortunately, I don’t have a single photo of her. The woman in the photo is Goldie Hawn back during her glory days. Even back when I first met Sandy I thought she looked a lot like Goldie Hawn.
https://www.tuscl.net/photo.php?id=1871
Sandy was the prototypical all American girl - a corn-fed, blue-eyed blonde from the heartland (Ohio). It wasn’t Sandy’s blue eyes or her blonde hair that drew me to her. It wasn’t her attractive figure even though she did have a very nice shape. Sandy was cute, even hot, yes, but I’ve had more awesomely beautiful women in my life.
It was Sandy’s glowing personality and her exceptional disposition that drew me to her and made me fall in love with her. She was equally comfortable and gracious around the high and mighty lawyers who I was working with at the time as she was with the penniless, probably illegal aliens who lived in the ratty apartment complex where we were both living when we first met.
I was working in Houston as a law clerk after my second year of law school when I first laid eyes on Sandy. I was 27 years old at the time. Sandy was a 36 year old divorcee. Within a few hours of our first meeting poolside at the apartments where we both lived, we went on our first date. A few days later we embarked on what proved to be the most torrid love affair of my life. We were constantly together if I wasn’t at my office or on a business trip.
She drove a recent model Corvette. When we went out for dinner or drove to Galveston for a day at the beach together (something we did a lot), she always insisted that I drive her Corvette.
That didn’t offend me either.
I fell madly in love with Sandy.
I had to return to Austin to complete my legal studies but intended to return for Sandy after graduation. Although I never asked her to marry me, I said enough to her to make her realize that this was something I was considering very seriously and that I wanted her to consider it too.
I thought of Sandy every day during my last year of law school. I came to see her in Houston during the Christmas break and again during the spring break. Sandy was definitely a keeper. I’ve always regretted failing to keep her in my life.
I was married at the time but separated from my first wife. Unexpectedly, my first wife (who was living in New Mexico at the time), decided she wanted to return to Texas and give our marriage one last try. I felt obligated to give our marriage one last chance especially since it had been my own shortcomings that led to our separation.
When I arrived in Houston after graduation, I saw Sandy and explained what was going on in my life. She took it well at first but then suddenly burst into tears.
That really tore me up. Here was the woman I loved so desperately and wanted to marry - and she was crying because I was telling her I was backing away from our relationship.
But, being the remarkable woman that she was, Sandy and I remained close friends. I often saw her on the sly but we were never lovers again. We were just exceptionally close friends with a torrid past. Whenever I saw Sandy I always told her that I loved her very deeply. She would often cup my face in her hands when I said this and say, “yes, I know you do.”
Then my career took me to London and for the next thirty years I lived in various foreign countries far more than I lived in the USA. During this period, the unthinkable happened: I lost track of Sandy.
I have tried numerous times to locate her but without any luck.
I am not even sure if she is even still alive.
But she still brightens my dreams and I know that I am still in love with her.
Sandy was a keeper and I fucked up.
Her name was “Sandy.”
The photo on the link below is not of Sandy. Unfortunately, I don’t have a single photo of her. The woman in the photo is Goldie Hawn back during her glory days. Even back when I first met Sandy I thought she looked a lot like Goldie Hawn.
https://www.tuscl.net/photo.php?id=1871
Sandy was the prototypical all American girl - a corn-fed, blue-eyed blonde from the heartland (Ohio). It wasn’t Sandy’s blue eyes or her blonde hair that drew me to her. It wasn’t her attractive figure even though she did have a very nice shape. Sandy was cute, even hot, yes, but I’ve had more awesomely beautiful women in my life.
It was Sandy’s glowing personality and her exceptional disposition that drew me to her and made me fall in love with her. She was equally comfortable and gracious around the high and mighty lawyers who I was working with at the time as she was with the penniless, probably illegal aliens who lived in the ratty apartment complex where we were both living when we first met.
I was working in Houston as a law clerk after my second year of law school when I first laid eyes on Sandy. I was 27 years old at the time. Sandy was a 36 year old divorcee. Within a few hours of our first meeting poolside at the apartments where we both lived, we went on our first date. A few days later we embarked on what proved to be the most torrid love affair of my life. We were constantly together if I wasn’t at my office or on a business trip.
She drove a recent model Corvette. When we went out for dinner or drove to Galveston for a day at the beach together (something we did a lot), she always insisted that I drive her Corvette.
That didn’t offend me either.
I fell madly in love with Sandy.
I had to return to Austin to complete my legal studies but intended to return for Sandy after graduation. Although I never asked her to marry me, I said enough to her to make her realize that this was something I was considering very seriously and that I wanted her to consider it too.
I thought of Sandy every day during my last year of law school. I came to see her in Houston during the Christmas break and again during the spring break. Sandy was definitely a keeper. I’ve always regretted failing to keep her in my life.
I was married at the time but separated from my first wife. Unexpectedly, my first wife (who was living in New Mexico at the time), decided she wanted to return to Texas and give our marriage one last try. I felt obligated to give our marriage one last chance especially since it had been my own shortcomings that led to our separation.
When I arrived in Houston after graduation, I saw Sandy and explained what was going on in my life. She took it well at first but then suddenly burst into tears.
That really tore me up. Here was the woman I loved so desperately and wanted to marry - and she was crying because I was telling her I was backing away from our relationship.
But, being the remarkable woman that she was, Sandy and I remained close friends. I often saw her on the sly but we were never lovers again. We were just exceptionally close friends with a torrid past. Whenever I saw Sandy I always told her that I loved her very deeply. She would often cup my face in her hands when I said this and say, “yes, I know you do.”
Then my career took me to London and for the next thirty years I lived in various foreign countries far more than I lived in the USA. During this period, the unthinkable happened: I lost track of Sandy.
I have tried numerous times to locate her but without any luck.
I am not even sure if she is even still alive.
But she still brightens my dreams and I know that I am still in love with her.
Sandy was a keeper and I fucked up.
Got something to say?
Start your own discussion
14 comments
Thanks for sharing it
Then a 2 year hiatus (drugs, sex, & rock & roll) and I couldn’t reach Gail. I called her old friends and no one knew just where in Wisconsin she had moved. She was 19 or 20 when I lost track of her and would be 70 now. I’ve often thought of her and wondered, what if....
Well, beats having had a boring life.
Memories of missed opportunities can be pleasant, if one is ok with the the way things worked out.
Speculation question: If Sandy had become mrs. bastard #2, would there have been any mrs. bastard #3?
When I have tracked down one's got away, it has never gone well.
SJG
Excellent question!
But it’s hard to answer.
Sandy seemed too good to be true. But if I had married her, she might have turned out to be merely human. The ones that got away sometimes look so much better in our memories precisely because they got away before we discovered their human frailties, quirks and imperfections.
A woman with whom I’d had a brief relationship and then met again many years later told me a story. I was “the one that got away” in her life story. She proceeded to tell me how wonderful she thought I was. I was amazed at how badly she had misjudged me. There is no way I could have ever lived up to the man she had built me up to be in her memories.
But even if Sandy was as wonderful as I thought she was, I have always been the weak link in all of my marriages and long term relationships. Looking at my track record with the benefit of hindsight, there is an excellent chance I would have only broken that wonderful woman’s heart if we had married.
Plus, with Sandy being 9 years older than I am, there might have been more strain on our relationship as she aged with a 9-year head start on me. I was at the peak of my philandering era about the time Sandy would have been going through menopause.
Bottom line, I think Sandy deserved someone much better than Reverend Hornibastard.
I sincerely hope she got the man I think she deserved because, after it’s all said and done, I still love her very much.
Great comic strip!
Thanks for sharing. It epitomizes the “one that got away” syndrome very well.
I know muddy also has a few stories about the ones who get away.
https://www.tuscl.net/discussion.php?id=…
Thanks for sharing your experience.
For me when it comes to "the one that got away" I tend to "over" remember her positive qualities and our experiences, while forgetting her negative qualities and the reason I let her get away.