He comes from a land down under

It never fails. We`ve all had it happen...

My intentions for this trip were to keep an open mind, make connections with all different types of people and learn about myself. Meeting men was pretty much last on the priority list. But...undoubtedly when your not looking is always when it hits. Hard.

And it also never fails, that you meet this particular person the day before he is leaving.

So I went out on Friday night with Drew, Mei and a bunch of Drew`s friends. One being his close friend, Honor, a really cool girl from Australia. She had a friend in town, Jeremy, who is a pilot for Qantas airlines. Drew immediately saw some kind of potential match making opportunity, and maybe planted the seed a bit...

Jeremy is 28 and 3/4 (his words) and lives in Sydney. He flies 737s (I believe) from Sydney to various destinations in Asia and other Australian cities. He`s charming, bright, funny, fun, really good looking...the type for me to run far and fast from. So, of course, I do exactly the opposite. There was a pretty immediate spark and we spent hours dancing and not doing much talking since the music was so loud you couldn`t even hear if you screamed. As usual, it was close to daylight when we came out of the club. The trains were not running yet and he was staying at a hotel near the airport so unless he took a $200 cab back he had no place to go. Being the good samaritan that I am, I offered to hang out with him some more. Not really knowing anything about him other than he was safe, cause he was part of our group, and he was really cute (two great reasons, in my opinion) we went back to my hostel. Now, before you think bad things, my roommates were all home, so we went up on the rooftop and hung out for a bit, getting to know one another--since we could actually hear each other speak. When the trains started working we headed towards the station, both exhausted. I told him I was going to go get some coffee and he said he`d join me. Almost 4 hours later we were still at the coffee shop, having talked the entire time.

It is amazing how when you are in a situation that you know there is a very good possibility that you will never see this person again, you just lay it all out there. You know? Here I am, this is me, take it or leave it, I don`t care. And crazily enough, when you do that, it seems to enable the other person to do the same and you end up having a conversation that is more in depth and intense than you`ve ever had with even some of your closest friends. It was like we were in some kind of zone oblivious to everything else around us. He completely understood everything I am doing. He wanted to talk about the things I need to talk about, that others either think I`m weird or they don`t get it. And it wasn`t all serious stuff. It was fun, effortless....really, really nice.

So, after we realized how much time had passed, he said he had to get back to Narita (the airport town) but neither of us were ready for the day to end, so he invited me to join him. It was about an hour and a half to get out there, and on the train ride we just relaxed, looked at pictures, talked some more...just enjoyed one another. When we got to Narita, we went to lunch, and then he cleaned himself up and got ready to fly. He went from being the cool, cute guy in the club to Mr. professional airplane pilot that even wears the funny hat. As my friends know, I am apparently a sucker for accents and uniforms (no worries, NOT a soccer uniform) and this guy has both. Uh-oh.

Then all of the sudden dread started to sink in. Here was this person that I was enjoying the company of immensely and he has to leave. And who knows if we`ll ever see each other again. ahhh...

Mental delimma. I had a short debate in my head--there are two ways of looking at this situation. First, it sucks. Bigtime. How often do you find an attraction on all levels--intellectual, emotional, and physical? And when you do, how do you not want to hang on to it for dear life? I am female afterall. But, then I took a deep breath, shut down the franticness in my mind and thought, damn, I am really lucky to have met him. Even if we don`t ever see each other again, I`ve had a wonderful time, and my life is better for having had this experience with him. The past 15 hours have been great, and if nothing else, the memory will always be a cherished one.

When we were looking out the window before he left, there was a beautiful sunset...but it was raining at the same time. He said "Well if that isn`t a perfect metaphor for this moment." Indeed it was...

I imagine this might be a dilemma I may run across a couple more times during my travels. So learning to say: "goodbye and thanks for the contribution you have made to my life" is something I have to be able to do, without getting all mopey and girly about it.

Plus, coming from the hard place I`ve been in, meeting someone like Jeremy gives me hope for myself when I am ready for a relationship in the future. There are good guys out there. I`ve been lucky to have met a few. We have already been in touch via email, and at the very least, I have a new friend.

And who knows, the world is a small place and the man flies an airplane...