FROM IN LIKE TO IN LOVE

Yesterday I attended a memorial service for my friend Marie.  She was a dear friend and came to my rescue when I found a note that Gwen had written to me 50 years ago, in shorthand.  Marie taught business classes at a community college, and she gladly transcribed the note for me.  The note is precious to me because it describes a time early in Gwen's and my relationship when we were overcome by a feeling we had never experienced before; the feeling of being overtaken by an overwhelming love.   This is a poem I wrote about it; I have revised it from when I first posted it:

FROM IN LIKE TO IN LOVE

The note is in shorthand.

Northern Michigan College

 is printed at the top of the paper

Tuesday night, 8:30,

the two of us, sitting at a table

studying in the library

one of our first dates.

My friend Marie teaches shorthand

at the community college.

She transcribed the note for me.

Here’s what it said:

She wonders, in shorthand,

what I’m thinking about—

about her specifically,

says I give her too much

to think about.

Let’s talk about John and Gwen,

Remember last weekend?

How could I have forgotten? she asks,

I’m confused, don’t know what to think.

I remember that weekend,

remember it exactly,

we didn’t make it to the party,

instead, we fell in love.

(Around that time

she had written to a friend:

I’m “in like” with John,

and it will only get better.)

There, that night, in the library;

 she knew it had gotten better.

News like that takes some getting used to.

The last symbol she wrote in the note

is one that means yours.

She got used to it.

John A. Bayerl, February 21, 2011

 The love we discovered that night, Dear, goes on; not only in you and me, but also in our children, and friends, and everyone who knew you.  How am I to replace that?