15

To The Lady on the Train,

15 years ago, you would have been waking up to spend the day getting ready for an evening at a Christmas party. I imagine that it was a day of anxious stress.

Your shoes and dress already decided, purchased, and worried over. You would be getting nervous about how your hair would turn out. Would the makeup be okay? 

I can tell you that the dress was perfect. The shoes were perfect. The hair and makeup were perfect.

You were perfect. 

What you did not know then and could not know then was that I was smitten and intimidated by you and had been for some time. You wouldn't have believed it even if I had told you. You didn't believe it when I did eventually tell you.

That night I watched you from afar. I watched the grace and lines of your limbs. I watched the sweep of your hair and the arch of your neck. I watched you stand tall and straight and say the words that you needed to say. 

Though I remember parts of the night and some I can never seem to recall, there is a moment that will be with me always. Words tumbled out of your mouth that absolutely stunned me, and I still find myself being surprised by. Those words were to change so much in my life because they changed so much of what I thought that I knew. 

That night started something that I could never have expected or even believed. 

15 years ago, a casual comment changed my entire life. And I am beyond grateful.

The Man in the Station