I'm joining Argy in the Creative Writing exercises postings. I recalled that I said I would, so here I am. The first two things I wrote for my class, well...I'm gonna not post those 'cause they weren't that good. But my most recent ones, I think I will post 'em here. I hope you like.

~Gabber
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Exercise: Remember someone you met briefly but who made a strong impression. Write everything you can about that person and that encounter.


"A Cup of Acceptance"

There was something about her. I don’t really know what it was. But there was something that made me want to open up to her, want to laugh with her, want to stay on that plane with her. Usually that three hour plane ride from Dallas to Los Angeles would be long and boring, but not that day. The three hours couldn’t last long enough. I’m so glad that I didn’t change my seat assignment like I had contemplated at the counter – there was someone sitting next to me and I could have had another area all to myself, but I decided I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of choosing. I’m glad I didn’t. Otherwise, I would have never met Lexie.

She was a woman in her early twenties with blond, curly hair put up in a french roll and blue eyes that were so attentive – I don’t know how anyone could resist their pull. There was an air about her, a mystery, and yet despite this, she was as goofy as could be. Immediately upon trying to get to her seat, which was next to mine, she tripped over herself and gave that trademark giggle I came to appreciate over the next three hours. I had to laugh and wondered whether this flight was going to be all that boring after all. I was so used to sitting next to people who would simply read their books or listen to their CDs and not even say hello to me. Lexie was a different story.

She was making fun of herself within the first few seconds, and I was laughing along with her and throwing back my own witty lines. Although it got quiet again during take-off and I thought that was going to be the end of our exchange. Lexie began to take the role that almost every airline passenger takes – she pulled out a book and was going to begin reading. We were both reading self-help books and had to grin at each other, but that was it. It’s interesting how people can sit next to someone for a long period of time and not even try to get to know them. That’s the normal way of going about things on an airplane – you keep to yourself. But there was something that made me not want to keep to myself with this woman.

Apparently she was thirsty. She asked for two cups of water, and I couldn’t help but stare as she downed the first cup in one gulp. She saw me staring and we both started laughing again. From that moment on, we were unseparable...unstoppable.

Lexie and I talked and talked and talked. In fact, I think we talked and laughed so much that the people around us thought we were drunk. The flight attendant came to give Lexie more water and joked with us that we needed to stop drinking the alcohol. However, no alcohol had been consumed. We weren’t laughing like little schoolgirls because there was alcohol in our bodies and we were thousands of feet up in the air. We were laughing like little schoolgirls because for the first time in a long time with a stranger, both of us felt like we could.

I can’t remember the last time prior to meeting Lexie that I’d been able to have a talk such as that one, and I haven’t had one since. We giggled, we joked around, we told stories, but most of all, we exchanged lives.

I had previously been so afraid to tell people, especially random people, about my life. My real life. I was constantly hiding, but something about Lexie made me feel like I could begin to come out of the shadows. I told her about my love life, my girlfriend, and everything that had happened with us and our families. Things that I hadn’t been able to tell some friends and family in my life, I told a complete stranger. The way she listened, I could tell...she really did want to know. She wanted to know me. The real me and not the Keri I had been presenting to the world for so many years.

But it wasn’t simply her listening that made me feel special and important, it was the way she accepted me. Accepted the person I love. Accepted my life. Accepted my mistakes. For the first time in a long time, a stranger – no... a friend made me feel like it was okay to feel how I was feeling. It may have only been three hours, but I could tell by the end of it that she already cared, and possibly, she already loved me.

When we had to part our ways, I could tell she was just as sad as I was. We exchanged e-mails with the hope of one day soon exchanging ourselves with each other again. We did...once. Since then, I haven’t heard from her and it’s been a year. I wonder what she’s doing today, if she’s still traveling across the United States to attend a friend’s dance again, if she’s still living with her sister, if her computer is broken down again, if she’s still working with little kids. I wonder if she thinks of me occasionally, like I think of her.

She told me in that one simple e-mail we shared before communication ceased that there was no way she could explain how happy I had made her in that one flight. That she text-messaged one of her friends after I left and said, “I made a new girlfriend!!! She’s so cool!!!!” That she had never experienced such a talk with another woman before, and that she wondered if she ever would again. That I taught her some things, but she didn’t say what. I know one thing for certain – she gave me the gift of acceptance. Not of others accepting me, although that was a gift I’ll never forget her giving me... but she gave me the gift of accepting myself. And for that reason alone, I will never forget Lexie Bennet.



"All day I think of schemes
To get you next to me
I want you so bad that I can barely breathe
It's a sign of my obsession
That I can't stop thinking about

Your lips upon my lips
Your fingertips on my fingertips
Your skin upon my skin
Would be the sweetest sin..."

Hey gabber!

Love the story! Lexie sounds like a very interesting and comical person.

Your story made me think of a friend of mine that is very much like Lexie. And how much I miss my friend.

Good job and keep up the good work!

Hey that's pretty good Gabber.

The reading was very fluid allowing for a lot of intonations in its speech like when you said 'That I taught her some things, but she didn't say what.' I always like that.

Simple and clear in telling a story.

I also like the phrase
'My real life. I was constantly hiding,...'

Gabber,

This was a very easy/smooth read. I enjoyed it. I know the feeling well. I wondered if you believed that, the connection being so strong, when these people disappear - are they supposed to come back? What's the purpose of these heigtened first meetings? Why does something so cool have to end so fast? I'm not good at coping with those questions/answers. Do you suppose she was put in your life to teach you acceptance? To me this says a lot about fate and destiny... Interesting read. Thanks for sharing.

stranger

bard4sharks – Thank you! Lexie was indeed a very interesting and comical person...you gotta be to keep my interest on a 3 hour plane ride, that's for sure. After writing this and with my last trip back from Texas a couple of weeks ago, part of me wondered if I'd meet another "Lexie" but alas...two empty seats beside me. Part of me was disappointed. I wanted to make another new friend. That's the impact Lexie left apparently.

I'm glad that I could remind you of your friend...and I know the feeling of missing them. I had a friend or two like Lexie and I miss them sometimes.

Thanks again, and I'll always be writing, even if it's sporadically.


Snowy – Thank you, really. I too really like writing like that...I think a lot can be said with starting a sentence with "That" and continuing the thought but never really beginning it. It makes it stand out more, and sometimes that is important in a story.

You picked some of my favorite lines from the story. Thanks again hon.


stranger – Any reason why you were posting as stranger? Nonetheless, thanks for the comments and all. I'm glad it was a smooth read, I tried to make it as such...when I first started writing the story, it was completely different- total different feel to it. But I'm glad I went with this version, it speaks the truth of the story better.

Honestly, I sometimes wonder those same questions. I sometimes wonder if someone like Lexie was simply meant to come into my life for a reason...and that I'm never supposed to see or talk to her again. I sometimes wonder if she was one of those walking angels on earth (real angels). And then I sometimes wonder if I'll see her again...if ironies of ironies, I'll see her again on a flight back from Texas to California and we'll laugh at our luck and have another great talk on the flight only to lose touch again. I just don't know.

I kinda wish sometimes that we could have kept in touch and became friends, because I think there was a strong connection there. Strong connections are rare...sometimes they're a good thing, and sometimes they're not. It depends on the situation and most importantly, the timing.

Do I think she was sent here to teach me acceptance? Absolutely. Without a doubt in my mind, yes. Lexie helped me begin my path toward accepting myself and not being ashamed of myself. That beginning, she, is the reason why I am at where I'm at now...where I'm tired of hiding, where I'm proud of who I am, and where I am telling the world- or at least all those I was scared to tell for the last almost three years. I wouldn't be here without her, and therefore this story will always be special to me...and always be worthy of telling.

Thanks again...made me think about the importance of Lexie once more, and I think that was important for me to do at this particular moment 'cause of some things that happened last night. So thank you.

~Gabber



"There is a storm in my head
It rains on my bed
When you are not here
I'm not afraid of dying
But I am afraid of losing you

Maybe I'm addicted
I'm out of control
But you're the drug that keeps me from dying
Maybe I'm a liar
But all I really know
Is you're the only reason I'm trying..."