The man I didn't marry

Tonight we're staying in Fillmore. Which reminds me....


Josh isn't the only boy who proposed to me.

Quinn proposed to me once. At my Grandpa's house. We were taking a walk from the clubhouse in the backyard toward the trampoline where we'd meet up with the rest of our friends. Somewhere near the woodpile he told me he thought it would be really cool if we got married and asked if I'd marry him please.

I think I blushed. And told him yes.

That didn't really pan out for us though. We wanted different things in life. (He wanted to marry me so he could be brothers with his best friend - my little brother. I wanted to marry him because I'd get to wear a big white dress and look like Cinderella.) We changed a lot. We grew up. (He was 7, I was 10.) He moved away and I haven't seen him since.

His mom and dad made him move to Fillmore with his 4 little sisters. By the time he moved we had drifted apart. He and Nate were still best friends (right Nate?) but Quinn fell out of love with me within a week. I think 7-year-olds are fickle and unprepared to make lifetime commitments. Rude. I wondered for a long time if we were really going to get married when we grew up. I don't wonder anymore.

So while I sit in this hotel room in a town with a population of 12 - or something close to that - I can't help but wonder where he is tonight. And what he's doing with his life. And if he even still lives in Fillmore, or if he's proposed to some other girl and has married and moved on with his life. Maybe his mom is still here....