Kate

A few days ago, I was surprised to see on the cover of a publication that arrived in my mailbox the face of a woman who I knew when I was in grad school. She was in her mid '20s at the time, confident and even a bit sassy (but not sassiness that served as a cover for lack of confidence), with a slightly tomboyish, even defiant demeanor and striking "classic" good looks: wide-set almond eyes (and a slightly lazy lefty, which can be a tad sexy a la Paris Hilton & Heidi Klum), strong jaw, high cheekbones, narrow nose, great smile, etc., sort of a Shana Zadrick look, with maybe 60% of the glam factor and without the wind-tunnel eyebrows. Her usual attire was a spaghetti strap top, jean shorts and sandals, she was generally slender but just slightly on the soft side (in an alluring kind of way) and I was mildly attracted to her. She had a little thing going on with my roommate, but, to make a long story short, had I pursued her, especially with conviction, it seems more likely than not that something romantic would have resulted.

Anyway, this publication made it clear that she'd reached the pinnacle of the profession for which we (she, my roommate, I) were preparing ourselves at the time. I looked her up online. Unlike those "facebook disillusionments" I've mentioned, I found Kate still as lovely and confident as ever. It made me generally nostalgic for...for that time of opportunity. It made me think through the diverging paths that our careers took. And it made me wonder, oddly, how I would be feeling right now had she and I become involved.

Incidentally, the last time I saw Kate was one week before I met my wife.