Crossing Yesterday

“Melvin is kind of complicated, Jorja. We really care for each other.  It’s just that he seems to already be married.  To a business.  When we first began to date, if you wanna call it that, I thought it would be like when I dated Robert.  I know that was a lot of years ago and I was a teenager then; but still, dating is dating.  Right?  Wrong.  Melvin’s idea of a relationship is quite different from mine.”

“If he’s not working, or if he’s not working on something at work, then he’ll make time for me.  He’s really not that interested in hiking or family events.  He hardly ever comes to dinner at Thanksgiving or Christmas or any of the grandkids birthdays.  It’s just really hard to have a relationship with someone who’s never around.”

Jorja had a puzzled expression on her face, then she turned to Regina. 

“He’s not so different from myself.  All those years in the military, I never made time for anything much beyond work.  Even most of my friends were involved in my work.  Have we become a generation of work-a-holics?  Is that all we’ve done with our lives?  Just work, work, work?  No time for families, or husbands and wives, never mind pursuing a passion or a hobby?”

Regina was rather quiet. 

And I thought I was the different one.  At least I had the time for children, family, and making friends from different places, with different views.

“Well, I guess we each make our own choices, Jorja.  Then we live with them and sometimes we just make the best of them.  That’s something I’ve been doing for years, living with my choices, and realizing there was a way to find something good out of the worst of situations.  I guess that’s also why I wanted to see if we could pick up the pieces.  We had a great friendship at one time and I was hoping it could be again. Now that I have time and you have time.  Even if we have a few differences to overcome.”

It was Jorja’s turn for contemplation.

A few differences would be an understatement.  But they did have moments when it seemed as if no time at all had passed.  She was the same person Jorja remembered.

“I guess there’s some truth there.  We’re grown women now, not teenagers, and there’s a lot of distance to cover.  We have some really different views, Regina.”

“Yeah, I know we do.  But what kind of friends would we be if we didn’t at least try?”

Jorja didn’t want to delve any further into something that she needed time alone to sort through.  So she simply returned to the conversation about Melvin.

“So why do you and Melvin keep seeing each other if you never do things together?  Isn’t that the point of a relationship?”