According to sources, she passed away peacefully at 2am holding the hand of her best friend. Man, what a blessing. Who could ask for anything more? I can’t imagine a better way for someone like her to go.

Lisa Rosselot.

Geez; this girl.

It was June 24th, 1989. My fellow nerds may realize that as the release dates of both Batman ’89 and Ghostbusters II. I was waiting in the theater to meet a girl for a blind date. It was no big deal if she didn’t show because, well, Batman and Ghostbusters. I was winning either way.

I believe my brother was supposed to join me there to meet another girl but he bailed. As imagined, the girl I was supposed to meet bailed too. Instead, me and the girl my brother was supposed to meet…well, we met. Fate?

The only thing I could compare her to in the moment was how Maverick thought about his teacher in Top Gun. As a middle-aged movie addict, I now know that’s a disgusting example for a ‘meet cute’, but we can’t change the past. Also, Batman ’89.

It was the summer before my Sophomore year in high school and we dated until the summer after graduation. She was the first person I loved outside of family, the first to break my heart, and the first to die. Obviously, otherwise she’d be writing this instead of me.

She and I remained just out of each other’s reach for the next thirty years. We wanted different things in life and our inner demons didn’t gel. We were much too powerful to be together. It would’ve triggered some kind of “Legend of Zelda” catastrophe or a sky beam in a Marvel movie. The Jedi made sure we could never join forces again, otherwise it could mean the return of the Sith. Yes, it was that important.

I went on to do different things with different people and so did she. I married her best friend (like a dick) and started a family. Then, everything becomes a blur thanks to alcohol and the US Army. Let’s not go there today.

We came face to face for a couple of weeks in 2017/2018-ish (my mind’s a mess from then), thus the photo.

We tried our best to recreate it, but it wasn’t meant to be; both the photo and the spark. We were in some pretty dark places in our individual lives, and we’d both developed different beliefs, morals, and past atrocities.

Seriously, you couldn’t have forced our two puzzle pieces back together with a hammer. That was when we gave each other permission to let go. We loved each other so deeply – there’s nothing deeper than teenage first loves – that we let common sense rule the day.

We knew each other existed, and we knew we were going to be all right. Roll credits.

In the past six years, I’ve learned to love again. Not stupid, childhood, intoxicated, nostalgia, replacement love, but real love. I’m part of a family again, I’ve found sobriety, and I live in a community where I belong. I began living again in my mid-forties because my high school girlfriend finally gave me permission to do so. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

She predicted this, you know. I think it was my senior year when she said that she was going to die before me, and I would be forced to sit at her grave, tell her stories, and bring her a Chilito and a Mountain Dew. I don’t know any other way of saying this:

To my dear Lisa,

I hope you’re the angel you always dreamed of being. If you are, you will have gained ultimate knowledge; realizing that Taco Bell stopped making Chilito’s in the mid-nineties and I stopped drinking soda on New Year’s Eve 2025. They’re not good for you.

I’ve heard I should’ve gotten to know the “you” who existed since breaking the curse we placed upon one another on that summer’s evening in 1989. Man, that Joker is one, diabolical bastard, isn’t he?

I know you found peace since our breaking, and so have I. Isn’t it amazing? I wish you could’ve met my Sam. She takes such good care of me. I’ve never loved someone so deeply and honestly and I know this because you were the bar for most of my life.

You will always be that country girl laughing at my inner sixteen year old to stop being such a wuss and jump into the damned pool. You “were” my childhood. You taught me how to drive a stick shift!!!

I hope you’re sleeping the deepest, worry-free sleep of your existence. I’ve had tears in the edges of my eyes for hours but they refuse to fall. I’m sorry; I don’t know how to do that anymore. It’s a military thing. I know you’ll forgive me. Trust me; the teenage ghost of me is in shambles.

I’m smiling, though, and I know you are too.

No, I will not sing at your funeral. You’re lucky I’m even going to be there. Do you know how many of our old friends hate me? Regardless, I know you’ll be there watching the drama unfold, because you wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’m blaming Batman.

Damn you, Batman.

Update: As I hit “post”, my telephone rang. It was my doctor scheduling my colonoscopy. Ironically, it’s scheduled for one of my ex-wives’ birthdays. I think Lisa predicted this, too.