timing...

An old buddy emailed me this morning telling me that her soulmate has just gotten engaged. Sounds like unrequited love, I know, but it's a little more than that. My friend has been almost getting together with this guy for, oh, just the past 10 years or so, but each and every time something could have happened, timing stepped in and ruined the union. She's always wanted him, and he's always wanted her - but through their late teens and twenties, they've never managed to get it together. All due to bad timing.

There's been times when she's dating someone else, then he was dating someone else, then she was going overseas, then he was travelling for work. And in a cruel twist of fate, the one and only time they almost went out, she was strickened with a really bad flu. Date was cancelled and as you would have it, he was off overseas the next week. Sounds like a movie!! But no happy ending here, or at least not yet. As time wore on, I guess they grew up and maybe moved on. He's now apparently engaged to be married to someone... and she's still longing for their first date. I'm not sure what's the deal on his side these days... I wonder if he still wonders about what could have been.

This beckons the long standing theory that it is all about timing. Some believe that there is only one person for each of us, and we will beat the odds of timing to find this person (even if we are 65 and in need of viagra by then). However, those who believe in timing (as opposed to the one) believe that for each of us, there are several people out there who could all fit the mould of the one, but it's the one who shows up at the right time (when you're ready to throw in the partying towel and settle down) that ultimately becomes your life partner.

I'm not sure where I stand on these theories, I think I'm going to sit on the fence and be a double dipper. Although I believe that timing is nine-tenths of how relationships blossom, if it is truly meant to be, it will be.

Probably not what my friend wants to hear. But though fate seems to have dealt you a cruel hand, you can't fight it. When one door closes, another opens.

Besides, he's not actually married yet!!