I drove to Woodstock from NYC on a Friday night. I got lost in the dark for about an hour and then finally found the lodge. I went the restaurant alone and ran into my ex-boyfriend when I was 16 in Portland Oregon.
He asked me how my Mother was and it floored me.
So much flashed through me, there was a time when she was alive and he remembered it.
It didn't even occur to him that she wasn't fine. I wanted his reality and this made me unbearably sad. My eyes welled up and spilled and I couldn't stop them. His girlfriend walked up and he tried to introduce us. He looked at my face and said under his breath “oh no” while she blurted out “WE just bought a house up here”. I said an awkward “how nice and ok goodbye now” with tears streaming down my face, and they seemed relieved to be excused from my uncomfortable display of emotion. There was nowhere to hide so I didn't. I just stayed there in the middle of the restaurant with all the people around and the waiters asking me if I wanted anything and it didn't let up for a very long time.