gene candeloro
2 min readJul 10, 2019

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Photo by Fabian Albert on Unsplash

I had a friend. She was sweet and beautiful. She was beautiful, but not like those girls in magazines; she wasn’t just beautiful for her looks.

I loved to watch the excitement in her eyes. They sparkled. They changed colors when she got excited. I remember many times staying up all night talking. Her gentle touch was amazing!

The conversations always moved from one subject to the next, rapidly. Her mind was clear and bright, and so amazingly curious. We never argued. Eventually one of us genuinely saw the other’s point of view. Or we just moved on to the next subject.

We loved food and travel and dogs and photography. We grew together; our minds grew together; we cherished our time together. Her aura shined ever so brightly over and over.

One day she changed. She had met someone that was taller, stronger, better looking than me. Yet he wasn’t bright. Curiosity and conversation about deep things didn’t interest him. But she insisted he was right for her. She would never tell me what they did talk about. If they stayed up all night talking. Eventually we drifted apart. I was very sad.

I see her every now and then. She is still beautiful but her aura is fading. The color in her eyes is duller. I don’t see the sparkle that I always saw, that I liked to think I put there.

Does she know she is getting dull? Does she know her aura is fading? I think she has to see it in the mirror. She has to know her soul isn’t being fed. She insists she is happy. But sometimes people cling to a mistake because they spent so much time making it.

I’ve never before seen a woman’s eyes sparkle and change colors. I often wonder am I the only man that got to see that phenomena? I wonder, will her eyes ever sparkle like that again?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Gene has been writing for a while, he will not tell exactly how long. He enjoys communicating with and helping new writers. He has a uniquely simple Hemmingwayish writing style.

He has traveled extensively and even lived in a remote cabin high up in the mountains where he claims he found his style.

“Living without electricity and running water helps you clear your head.” He now does all his writing from a table overlooking a beautiful lake in North Carolina. All of the dogs and pretty much all the women in the stories are real. His true-fiction style allows for much exaggeration or entertainment but the people and dogs are all really special and deeply loved by the author.

genecmedium@gmail.com

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gene candeloro

Writer, photog., wanderer. Hopeful romantic. Lover of all things dogs. I write about ordinary people. Follow my Relentless Pursuit. Medium Noteworthy Writer.