- Fifteen Years Ago -
I used to hang out at a country bar called Club Palomino. I loved listening to good bands there and dancing to their country rock music. I used to drag my friend out to see my favourite band “Cheyenne” play. They were amazing and always packed the place. My friend and I used to get up and dance to their songs. I was interested in the rhythm guitar player in the band. To me, he was the best looking one and I loved his voice along with the rhythm of his guitar music. Yes, I had the “hots” for him and would stare at him from the dance floor or the bar while he was playing his guitar or singing. I’ve always had this thing for bands as I play the guitar and always wanted to be part of a band too.
They played there for a long time and were the best band at Club Palomino. I would go there as much as I could just to hear them play, and of course, always watch my favourite player. The sad part about it was I used to see him with a short blonde girl, whom I assumed to be his girlfriend or wife. After seeing the band play there for a long time, the club closed down. Yes, the club was sold. A huge townhouse sub-division was put up in its place and the club was gone. So were all the bands and my favourite band, Cheyenne. When I first found out about the club closing down, I wanted to approach Cheyenne; particularly the rhythm guitar player and ask where would they play in the future. However, I didn’t have enough courage to do that. I guess things happen for a reason.
- Fifteen Years Later -
As time went on, I met someone and got married. That was a mistake. Eventually, we got a divorce. I starting going out to bars again but soon got tired of it and I wasn’t meeting anyone decent enough. I wasn’t crazy about the bands playing at other bars either. Later, a friend told me to join a particular dating site on the Internet, which I thought I would never do. Nevertheless, I thought I would check it out for fun as I heard so much about people meeting their soul mates from that site. Surprisingly enough, I had a few dates but I just didn’t find the right one from the dating site. I sort of gave up on it until one night.
After getting home from a bar, which I hated, I went on my computer. For some reason, I logged in onto that dating site again. I was really glad I did that. I got an interesting email from a guy and liked his picture. I was also touched by his email and flattered that he was interested in my picture and profile. From then on, we started emailing each other quite often on that site. We seemed to have so much in common through our emails. We continued writing and eventually got on msn and chatted for a while. He was Bulgarian and I was Hungarian. How common was that! We discovered from our msn chats that we had even more stuff in common. It was really amazing. Our families even lived in the same town of all places. We chatted every night as often as we could. And then, a miracle happened! We started chatting on our computers about music. We realized we liked all the same music and both of us wrote songs.
I told him I liked country music and used to frequent a particular bar, which had closed down about fifteen years ago. Naturally, he asked me about the name of the bar back then. I told him it was Club Palomino. He was really surprised and told me he used to play there. I wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not! He said he would send me a picture of his band that played there. I thought, “Yeah right, this is too much of a coincidence.” to myself as I waited patiently in front of my computer for the picture. Lo and behold! A huge picture with the words “Cheyenne” and “Club Palomino” came up on my screen. I freaked out! I couldn’t believe it! It was him in the picture with Cheyenne. The guy I was interested in was the rhythm guitar player in my favourite band. I was so shocked that I went crazy after seeing the picture! It was just unbelievable! It was like a miracle that suddenly happened! It was like a fairy tale!
Eventually we went into another room and sat down at a table. After a while, he asked me if I mind if he got up on stage to do a solo. I definitely did not mind as being in the company of a man singing with his guitar is like being in heaven. He got up on stage and started playing his guitar and singing in front of an audience. That did it for me. I was hooked! The guy I admired fifteen years ago was performing in front of my eyes and was my date! I was in heaven! We dated for about two years and it was absolutely wonderful. Eventually we bought a condominium and have been living together for two and a half years now. Then, the final surprise! After moving into our condominium, we looked out of our window and to our astonishment we saw the office building of the dating site that brought us together. What a coincidence that was! In March 2008, we would have been together for five years, playing music and still laughing! We are just like two peas in a pod.
He met my friend who I was with at Club Palomino fifteen years ago and he remembered seeing us dancing while his band Cheyenne played. He also remembered me standing at the bar at times. I used to watch him go to the bar for his coffee and I knew our eyes met at that time. It felt strange crossing one another’s path some fifteen years ago only to be together now in the future and remembering it all!
By the way, that short blonde girl he was with at Club Palominowas the girl he married for eight years. He went through a brutal divorce. He did tell me that I should have approached him and told him “She is bad news.” when I first saw him at Club Palomino fifteen years ago. It’s funny how life is - it just wasn’t meant to be back then. Fate brought us together. We met our soul mates all thanks to that dating site!
For Jeanette and Rick
By Jeannette Gardner
