Embrace it like an old friend you haven't seen since high school, whom you secretly had a crush on, who is now living one town away from you, where you grew up, who is not married or attached except for a new dog after her divorce, who is now looking at you a certain kind of way when she hands you the corkscrew for the wine you'll share on your apartment balcony overlooking the old river that you once went swimming in with her at fifteen, when you almost, nearly, kissed her when she came up to the surface, when the sun was just setting, when the sun was the strongest just over the pines, when it cast a fiery light onto her shining face, when you laughed instead of trying, when you cursed yourself that night, alone, in bed, shamed with regret, which now is coming tumbling back to you, asking if you might want to try again.

.