Meet The Doctor

Thursday night's medical rendezvous. I was clad in my red ABS dress with full cooperation from my unruly locks. However, the weather was chilly and I wore my mid-thigh length brocade coat. I was overjoyed to be put together nicely.


With eager anticipation promptly at 5:20 PM, he sent me a text message, "Made it! Traffic was bad." I arrived a few minutes after our agreed-to time. He was already seated at an intimate table for two. He was facing the door. Much like a bride watches the groom as she begins her walk down the aisle, I was certain to watch his face as I entered the restaurant. The Doctor leaped out of his chair, his eyes filled with a weird mix of stun and elation.


I sauntered over to our table and was greet by his open arms. The Doctor has already ordered mojitos for us. Pretty slick. Immediately, we toast and I begin to ask about his conference which was the small nudge he needed to segue into his life as a medical student to present day.


He snuck in an off hand statement wrapped innocently in the middle of a paragraph, "so you never got married?" I replied that I had actually tried being married, and The Leech did not. The Doctor was amazed that I got married and did in fact tell me such. This led to the next topic on his agenda, his children. And that is how he brought up his marriage.


Much like I had fully anticipated, his marriage is not a happy one. Medical school, residency and the accompanying time demands it places on a person, and his accompanying family, have broken their marriage. Her sole focus is on their children. His is on medicine. They are merely co-existing. He is hoping that next year when his hours are manageable because he will be actually practicing that they can repair their marriage; if not, time for the big d.

He went on and on about his children. They are the ones he loves. I played dumb when it came time to answer his inquiry regarding if I had seen the kids' photos on the site. Since I hadn't (wink, wink), I was treated to the photos stored on his phone. Lovely. They look like his wife.

Luckily, another drink abruptly stopped that stream. He asked about my wedding. Apologized for losing touch all these years. He also shared with me that he told his mother that he was meeting me and she sent her regards. His mother always liked me best. He inquired about my profession, the traveling I'd done, places I've lived, adventures I've led. At the end of this section, The Doctor told me he was envious because in the past ten years I've done all the things he is still waiting to do.

Best part was that throughout our time, he would complete sentences with compliments. If I had a nickle for every time he said "You look wonderful," "Wow. You look fabulous," "Absolutely radiant," I would be chateau hunting in the south of France. My ego basked in the glory of knowing he regretted his decision.

We made tentative plans to meet Friday afternoon. He was insistent on paying the bill. We walked out and stood in the middle of the sidewalk to say goodbye. We faced each other and he placed his hands on my shoulders and simply stared at me intently. A beat passed. We hugged goodbye and he kissed me on the cheek.

As per my original plan, I was tra-la-la-ing up Colorado at 7:35 PM. Some of the girls didn't think I would be strong enough to leave, but I knew I would be. The history The Doctor and I share is a delicate game of cat and mouse. It is our true nature when we are together. I still know what he wants. And he's not going to get it.