old love

In 1969 I met a boy and we went out very happily for a few years. We parted to go to separate universities. After uni we met up again and went out for a few more years, but it never really worked. In 1979 I met a person that I knew I would marry. When my old friend visited me a little while later I told him, and he just went away. In October 1982 my old friend had woken up in Bristol and decided that he would drive to Oxford to ask me to finally go to live with him. He arrived at my place of work in Oxford to be told that I was being married that afternoon. He left us in peace. There was little contact between us over the years, and no mutual friends to pass on news. In September this year I unearthed a bag of letters that had passed between us when we were young. I emailed him in October to enquire about him. He told me that he was about to contact me, to tell me that he was ill and had things to give back to me. He died 12 days later. I would not have known of his death and was able to go to his Memorial service.