10:32pm - Saturday Night December 18, 1999

Finland At Last!!

Eleven summers ago we walked on a carpet of warm, silky sand, a canopy of glittering stars above, the soothing rush of the tides gently lapping at our barefeet. We were two teenagers in love, an American girl and a Finnish exchange student,...eventually separated by the ocean we gazed upon.

He had to return to Finland July 1st. And with him went my heart...

Fast foward 10 years...I wondered over the decade, what it would be like to see him again. And in a momentary spark of impulse, decided to go to Finland.

" Would you meet me at the airport?," I asked him on the phone.

"Of course," he said. And I was on my way to Europe, secretly hoping to melt 10 years of distance between us.

When my plane touched down at Helsinki airport, my heart thundered a deafening beat. Would he still harbor feelings for me? Did he remember our teenage pledge of love through yesterdays of long-distance letters?

I searched the sea of blonde faces to find his familiar brilliant smile..At last! There he was...the dazzling green of his eyes sparkling with warmth. He loomed taller than I remembered, his tanned young face now showing his 28 years. I reached up to hug him, then in an instant, a Beautiful dark-haired woman appeared, and she nestled close by his side.

My smile became a mask...Inside I froze....summer had ended yet again...he was gone...my summer love was gone...

More tomorrow...

< stardust of yesterday - next star to the right >