It was summertime, 1950, New York City.  I was working in an office downtown.  I was young and didn't have a lot of money.  Instead of going to a diner with my coworkers, I would bring my lunch in everyday.  I would walk to the park, sit on a park bench, watch all the people in the park, and eat my sandwich.  One Tuesday, a beautiful young girl comes by and sits beside me on the bench.  She gets out a newspaper and starts to work the crossword puzzle.  She is gorgeous.  She had long, strawberry blonde hair, fair skinned, and a terrific figure.  I tried not to stare, but she was intoxicating.  She looked up and saw me staring her way.  She smiled and went back to the crossword.  I thought to myself, "Great move!  Real smooth."  I tried to work up the courage to say hello and introduce myself.  It didn't happen.  It was time for me to get back to work.  I thought about her the rest of the day.

   So the next Tuesday, I am at the park.  I am really hoping this girl comes by again.  I know in my head the chances are slim; a guy can dream.  Five minutes later she walks into my world.  I can't believe my luck.  She sits down beside me and starts to work the crossword.  I tell myself not to waste another opportunity.  However, before I get any words out, she says, "Aren't you the guy that was here last week?"  "She remembers me!" I thought to myself.  I replied, "Yes, my name is Roman.  It's a pleasure to meet you."  She said, "My name is Lindsay.  It's nice to meet you too."  Then she smiled at me.  Oh my God.  A barrage of butterflies erupted in my stomach.  I couldn't see straight.  I thought, "What the hell is wrong with me?"  I think I told her where I worked and why I came to the park, but I'm not sure.  It was a blur.  She mentioned something about being nurse and working with an elderly woman in the area on Tuesdays.  I was trying to memorize her face and her voice.  No one had ever made me feel like this.  Before I knew it my lunch break was up.  I had to get back.  I didn't have the courage to get her number or ask her out for a drink.  I thought I would do that next week.  I don't want to blow this by pressing too hard. 

   For the rest of the week, all I could do was think about next Tuesday.  I rehearsed what I was going to say, how suave I was going to be, and how I was going to make her laugh.  I was ready.  Tuesday rolled around.  I wore my best suit to work.  I was ready.  Lunchtime came and I floated down to the park.  I looked up and down the street...eagerly awaiting dear, sweet Lindsay.  She never came by.   I was devastated.  Why hadn't I ask her out?  Why hadn't I make plans to see her?  I showed up every Tuesday the rest of the summer.  No Lindsay.  Each Tuesday that passed, my heart broke a little more.

   A couple of years passed.  Lindsay still crossed my mind with great frequency.  How could I let someone go that made me feel so wonderful?  I concluded I was an idiot.  I convinced myself that there are plenty of girls in the world and that any number of them could make me feel that way.  I just had to be open to that.  So I got a new job as an accountant in the billing department of a city hospital.  One afternoon, I was tired of crunching numbers and went to the coffee shop in the hospital.  I sat at a table and read the paper while sipping my coffee.  There were only a couple of people in the shop so it was quiet.  A few minutes had passed and someone else walked into the shop and up to the counter.  I heard this voice ordering a cup of coffee.  My heart began racing.  It was Lindsay's voice.  I knew it instantly.   I thought, "What do I do?  I can't let her go."  So I summoned up the courage and walked up to her.  I said, "Lindsay!  Hi!  Do you remember me?"  She looked surprised at first.  Then she said, "Oh my!  You're the guy from the park.  Roman, right?"  I couldn't believe she still remembered me.  I said, "Yes.  How have you been?"  She said she had been fine and that she couldn't believed I remembered her.  She also said how disappointed she was that she never made it back to the park to see me again.  She had been reassigned another patient across town and couldn't get to the park on her lunch break.  She said in a coy tone, "I was hoping you were going to ask me out."  I confessed I had planned on doing that but never got the opportunity.  She smiled.  Then she said, "So why are you at the hospital?"  I told her I had just started working there and that I would be around quite often.  She smiled again and said, "Well I have to get back upstairs."  I said, "Wait.  Can I call you?"  The smile left her face for a moment and she said, "I don't think my fiancè would like that.  I'm sorry.  But we can have coffee sometime, OK?"  She might as well have stuck a dagger in my heart.  I was empty after hearing those words.  I put up a good front and smiled.  I said, "Oh congratulations.  Sure coffee would be nice.  I'll see you around Lindsay." Devastation set in, then anger, then bitterness.  I'll show her. I'll meet someone as well.

  Time went on.  I met a girl in the hospital.  We started dating.  She was great.  She was pretty, smart, fun, and she loved me.  However, she was not Lindsay.  No matter.  I proposed and we became engaged.  Lindsay had since gotten married.  I saw her around the hospital quite a bit.  We said hi to each other, had brief conversations and a cup of coffee once in awhile.  I went over the top when telling her how happy I was in my relationship.  I was trying to convince myself that I was happy.  I really wanted to grab Lindsay's hand and get her to run away with me.  It was not going to happen.  Her husband got transferred and they moved across the country.  I got married and had a wonderful family of my own.  I thought about Lindsay over the years.  I assumed it just wasn't meant to be and that the feelings I had were one sided.  After all, if she felt the same way wouldn't she have told me?  That was 1954.  I was 27 years old.

  Fast forward to the present, I am now living in an assisted living facility in Manhattan.  My wife passed away three years ago.  My kids all have busy careers and I am too old to take care of a house.  I was sitting in the commons area of the facility yesterday afternoon.  I was sitting on a bench reading a book.  A woman walks up and asks, "Mind if I sit down."  The voice produces a warm, fuzzy feeling over my entire body and my heart races.  I assume my old ears are playing tricks on me.  I look up and I see the most beautiful face in the world.  It's my Lindsay.  She tells me her husband had recently died and she had just moved in to the facility that morning.  She saw my name in the register and was looking to see if it was really me.  We smiled at each other.  I decided I was not going to let another second go by without telling this woman how she made me feel.   I grabbed her hand and said, "Lindsay, I fell in love with you the first time I saw you and you have been in my heart ever since that day.  I wanted to spend my life with you."  She held my hand tight, looked into my eyes, and sweetly said, "Me too."