Red

There's some debate over when we originally met and things got... interesting. I say it was 1992 or 1993, but there are hints that it was 1990 or 1991. SHE seems to think it was 90/91 and she's most likely right on this. Sad, really, as all things considered I should have the better memory of it...

I think.

Whatever the case, sometime between 1990 and 1993 (yeesh), I met a girl named 'Red.' Obviously not her real name, but you get used to that, yes? Red was cute, totally cute. And yeah, now that I think on it more, 1993 doesn't work because I was in a heavy relationship then. So, sometime in the early 90s, Red and I met at a function for the youth group we were involved with back then. As I refer to it "in another life."

I was one of the leaders, more like a student council leader than say an adult supervision-type role, so this isn't getting creepy or anything. I'm not that effing old, after all. The early 90s were still "part" of my teen years....

Gah, so far not really staying on topic.

Red & I met at a function. I know I was outside the building with friends, talking about... whatever. There's a good chance we were joking about something and it was definitely at night and cold. Red came up to talk to me and introduced herself in what could only be referred to as a "totally awesome" introduction for any (horny) teenage boy. See, it was a cold night and she grabbed my hand, placed it on her breast to feel the 'THO' (more commonly known as 'SNE' = Sudden Nipple Erection), which ultimately (and quickly, I might add) led to a similar occurrence on my behalf. My friend standing with me, asked for proof of just how cold it was, but he was shunned.

It was 1990. I stopped talking to that guy in my senior year of high school. She was right.

For a couple of... sporadic nights over the following months, she & I had a thing going. It didn't last for whatever reason (probably because I got back together with 'My First Love' once again). We drifted apart and never saw one another again after I split from the youth group in 1994.

I don't usually talk about this, but we actually had a scare back then that, had it come true, would mean I'd have a child just about ready to graduate from high school. That's a BIG scare...

Still, we drifted.

After '94, I found myself looking for more in my life and ended up at church. Years pas, marriage happens, so do kids finally (and on purpose!) and I find myself still struggling with past issues and "hang-ups" but also taking on a role of responsibility at the church. I think most people forget I started going to the church in my early 20s and spent no time there with their youth program. Thus, there's always levels of confusion when people do hear stories from my past. I wasn't an innocent church-going, God-fearing young boy. Nosiree.

As time passes, we come to last weekend and I'm walking my kids into the church. I see a display stand for a program run in the nearby community and there's a redhead standing by the display, talking to people. I look twice, but think "Nah.... there's no way." And I move on.

I tell my wife about the redhead and comment that if her name is... "Red" then "We have a past." (polite way of putting it, hm?)

My wife goes downstairs during the service to help take care of the kids and I make my way to the office to help with my... responsibilities. There's 4 of us in the office and I comment: "If that redhead in the front row is named "Red", we have a past." Not even a minute ticks by and a lady in the church is talking about the community program. She introduces one of the leaders of the program and calls her up to speak.

It's Red. We have a past.

Red introduces herself and begins to speak of her troubled past.

It's Red. We have a past.

She describes her years of homelessness, living on the streets in one of the worst neighborhoods in Canada.

It's Red. We have a past.

She goes into vivid detail about her addictions to IV drugs. "Mainly heroin," she admits.

It's Red. We have a past.

She talks of her move into prostitution and into abusive relationships.

It's Red. We have a past.

The other people in the office take all this in and look back to me. "That's some past."

It's Red. We have a past. But not that past.

Red's been clean for 2 years now and heavily involved in helping other women clean up and get out of bad relationships. She's working closely with a lady from our church. A lady just coming back from countless years working in Africa. Red will return to Africa with her for a brief stint to help her shut down her work there.

It's Red. She's speaking about Africa. We have a past.

Red & I have since caught up have reminisced upon our past together, which she agrees is definitely another life. I can't help but wonder what would have happened if our little scare turned out to be true. It's hard to think on that and know the pain she's obviously been through. But she's back in my life and we're talking again. And we're talking about Africa.

I haven't finished writing about Africa because I don't know how to end it. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just thinking about something that won't happen or if my timing's just "off." But Africa keeps finding its way back into my life, which means I have to finish writing about it soon.

And I may yet have another chapter about it too.