What would you say to the one who got away? HT Oliver Blank from the Art Assignment for this awesome prompt.

I am fascinated by this prompt. I read it and connect with a whole lot of emotions I cannot name. I feel the same as I read all the entries. I want to offer an answer, but cannot place an individual in my past I would label as ‘the one who got away’. 
I connect more with the sadness of all we lose as we navigate life and only realise its value on hindsight. The one who got away. The job? The boyfriend? The house? The friend? Yes to all the above.
I realise I spend little time reflecting on the alternative paths this life could have followed. So, here is what I would say to all those paths that got away:
It could have been you but it was not.

It could have been that job but it was not.

It could have been that house but it was not. 
Loss? Some might say yes.
I could have apologised but I did not.

I could have called back but I did not.

I could have let you win but I did not.
Loss? I say yes.
You said forever but it was not.

You said you’d help but you did not.

The emergency came but you did not.
So many ‘ones’ that got way.

So many more that will.

Just the bittersweet nature of choice in life.

Yeah, you got away … with it … for now … but I’l track you down, if it’s the last thing I do …

You were cruel to people who wouldn’t stand up to you.  Boisterous and loud.  Often crude.

But when I glimpsed you in Costco after years without contact.

I regret now that I had walked up, hugged you, and wished you well.

Treated you like a long-lost friend.

Thanked you for giving me the job that changed my life.
Or maybe told you what a jerk you had been and asked if you knew the pain you’d caused.
Instead I pretended I didn’t recognize you and walked right by.

I saw your smile fade. Your head drop.  Your realization that you had been snubbed.
I am sorry.  It was the last chance I had to be kind.
Rest in peace.  I hope you can.

I would say that for a long while I thought you were the one and that I had missed out.  Then I found the actual one, and for 10 years now I have been truly happy.  Really, truly happy.  So I guess, in summary, I would say “Thanks…thanks for leaving.”

We’ve been orbiting each other for years, eclipses here and there. We’ll always have sophomore year and the time I taped a box of Milk Duds to your door as part of a running joke. But I know there are plenty of fish in the sea and plenty of ships in the bay.

I just basically missed my chance in possibly gaining the greatest thing that could have ever happened to me. Oh well. I guess that how life works apparently.

You were the one that got away. The others, brown, red, green and blue, they stayed in their place until I could pluck them away, one-by-one. But you, the last yellow, you fell out of the bag and slipped through my fingers, rolling away into the hidden depths of the movie theatre floor. Goodbye, last yellow M&M, you were the one that truly got away.

I thought you were the one who got away a long time ago. Now I realize I am better off. I have time for my friends, work and family. I am well hopefully you are too.

He drop out of college

He got away
He move ‘cross country

He got away
He wrote computer code

He got away
He start Microsot

He got away
He got billions dollars

He got away
He left Microsoft

He got away
He still got billions dollars

He got away

I’m enjoying life so much more now.

Well, isn’t it a little bit of a presumption to say that there IS a one that got away? 
Because for me, that just doesn’t happen. I am very caring and professional when I have a mission. So they don’t get away.
Plus, it is their own fault. So, Justice.
Bye for now, True Friends!

Getting away: the basic rules.

By: the one who got away
Getting away is by no means easy.

It took me years to build my practice.

First I felt the desire.

The desire to be like snow or mist.

The desire to be like wind.

I felt my body had deep inside

a lightness and an urge to fly

It wanted to shift shapes.

To be like a leaf, or a cloud.
I didnt know what to do

Everyday I searched for ways

I stopped eating but I only became

terrible hungry and unattractive.

I entered sports, bungee jumping, ballet

but felt heavier all the time

I watched all flying things
with deep admiration
Then on a cold and dark morning

it came to me as a message

from some flying grandparent

far away
The message said

 be
and so I got away.
Tiger Toes

the one who got away