Royal Stardust

Over a year ago, we both swam and sun-bathed at the dingy community pool in between his apartment and mine. I wore my pink Barbie bikini and he was clad in swim trunks, the make and model I am unsure because, goodness gracious, his body was gold. And when I say that I mean a six-pack and flawless skin: not a freckle, wrinkle or blemish. I was instantly attracted and saying to myself: "He must be my future husband." In addition, he had two little girls with him: his beautiful daughters... so therefore, I then believed that he was off-limits. He must have a bride already. Yikes. Surprisingly, however, he approached me and asked me to "meet," explaining that he had been recently separated from his last partner and that he thought I was the one with the rockin body. Well, I politely declined because at the time I was practicing a "dating sabbatical." I vowed to God that I would. Oh heavens, yes. As a 26-year-old woman. Whether that was foolish or wise, I may never know. So, I told him that I wasn't meeting, dating, or talking to any men romantically for a full year. This decision was made before I met him, and it was a religious commitment to maybe somehow re-purify myself? All that being said... a year passed! Just like time tends to do. And now it was Easter, the month of April, in Texas. The bluebonnets were in full-bloom and it wasn't too hot yet. The winds were blowing and stirring up my spirit of hope and human dignity. I accidentally saw him and his daughters with pastel-colored Easter baskets walking away from me at the front yard. It was then that I felt prompted to ask this man for his forgiveness. I approached him and said, "Tarik, please forgive me for putting you off and ignoring you all year." He said, "No rush, but remind me why?" I came up with the lousy excuse that I was just distracted and that, also, by the way, extra fun information: I was moving to Las Vegas in a month! So, we did the next most logical thing. He took his daughters to stay with their grandmother and he drove me to the local park. We had timid and simultaneously passionate sex in the woods that same day. It was hot, on several levels. Between then and now, we've had many beautiful days. Days driving to get the best fried chicken we could find, days marveling at the horses of local pastures, and days at the local pool. Finally, this past Tuesday, he took me to the airport and now we're four states away from one another. What's a girl to do? I know. She's to write the full account of her love story with a Moroccan transplant online. A tribute, a guide for the future... whatever this may turn out to be. I pray that with all my mistakes, they may be twisted out for good like royal stardust. In the name that all that is noble, coincidental, sacred and carnal.