You've Got Mail

I just got done watching that movie by myself tonight... yes, the chic flick with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. What an overly romanticized story about the life of two New Yorkers. Well, the movie reminded me of a youthful relationship that developed with an email pen-pal. Oh, don't worry, I had met this person first, but only briefly before he moved back to Kuwait to finish his last year of high school abroad. The movie starts with Kathleen Kelly waking up at home to the jibberish of Frank, her somewhat respected columnist of a boyfriend. She waits not anxiously, but more so childishly, for him to leave for work so she can indulge herself in the wooing of the three simple words that seem meaningless alone but bring smiles and giggles when phrased together - You've Got Mail. As I watched Kathleen's excitement each time she heard that short catchy phrase, I too felt the girlish giggles arising in myself. I remember when I would come home each day from practice my senior year in high school and run straight to the computer more ready than ever to hear those exact same words. Okay, so I used juno instead of AOL then... but in my head it all played out the same... more or less. Anyway, I remember dancing in my thoughts as the modem dialed up the connection... how my eyes delightfully brightened and just the smile that would fall upon my face when my inbox showed a From: q8tstyle. Sort of like Kathleen Kelly and Joe Fox, we exchanged emails containing a lot about nothing, but yet we kept at it for months, maybe even up to or past a year. q8tstyle would tell me of his travels in Holland with his school volleyball team and how he had to wake up at 5am to beat the online traffic to send me emails. He would encourage me, as Joe did for Kathleen, when I encountered a bump in life's road. Mostly, his words fed me uncontrollable laughs; he composed with innocent yet insightful humor. To me, his emails were excellent, always perfect for my mood. Like Kathleen and Joe, we developed somewhat of a warm bond... just from emailing through the months.

So that was... oh... say just about five and a half years ago. You may wonder what has happened to this q8tstyle. Do you still email each other? Have you seen him again since your first encounter? Unfortunately I do not have an overly romantized story of my own to conclude for you... not yet at least. Though we correspond much less via email these days, mr. q8tstyle and I still share a bond, something we call a friendship. And yes, of course, I have seen him since the day we met... at least a few dozen times I tell you... and I still think he is brilliant.