I'm on good terms with most of my former girlfriends. These past few months I served as counselor to one whose marriage -- subsequent to our relationship -- had hit the rocks.
I broke up with my last lover -- let's call her LastEx -- in the early fall of 2003. We're okay with each other now, and I had a very funny phone conversation with her two weeks ago. She'd phoned for some advice on a professional matter, so we talked about that at some length.
Then she told me she'd gotten three other piercings in her ears, making an even three on each lobe.
Then she told me that the earrings I'd bought her during our relationship -- about half a dozen pair -- were the best she had, and that she wears them all the time.
(These weren't just any earrings. I don't mean to suggest that I paid large sums for them; none of them cost over $50, one pair I found for $12 at a street fair, several others for $8 each overseas. But she's very, very choosy about jewelry; I scouted and selected these very, very carefully, after studying her other jewelry closely. So she doesn't just love these because I gave them to her; she loves them because they really are right for her.)
Next, she tells me that they're the best earrings she has, and then she asks me . . . if I will keep buying her earrings. Seems that, what with her new piercings, her present inventory can barely provide the needed rotational variations.
I was charmed, of course, and agreed immediately. I remain quite fond of her, though she has aspects I found it impossible to deal with, and our lives didn't exactly run on parallel tracks. I'm a generous sort, and like to find gifts for my friends. I'll enjoy shopping for jewelry for her.
She told me she'd pay the cost of anything I found. I told her I'd be happy to give her anything I found, without any money changing hands. She asked what I'd want in return. "Forgiveness," I replied.
I have a friend who knows us both and tells me that LastEx "will always carry a torch for you." Maybe so. But maybe she just lusts after my taste in jewelry.
P.S. Today she called to let me know that she'd completely gotten over me.
