I've been asked a bunch of times to write more about Kristine, as people seem to think she's fascinating. Those people would be correct.
When I first met her, my heart skipped a beat. She was sexy, intelligent and sassy--three things I have always found very attractive. She also talked to me, which made her even more sexy to this impressionable young boy.
Coming from Toronto where guys had to approach a woman (and in my case get rejected for it), it was titillating to have a woman strike up a conversation with me first. Did I mention I brought along three boxes of condoms with me on this trip to Japan?
Even after meeting Kristine and then ignoring her for the rest of my time in Tokyo during our disorientation for the JET (Japan Exchange Teaching) Programme, I knew we'd talk and meet again. Kristine was smart enough to get my phone number from a JET guidebook, I was not.
Now... let me just make sure we are all on the same page here. I never slept with or got to first base with Kristine. A hug or a kiss on the cheek perhaps, but no more. Believe me, I would have fired a high, hard one into her catcher's mitt, but I had no idea how to get in the batter's box, let alone stop using baseball analogies.
A couple of months ago in 2010, she told me she had no clue that I was infatuated with her back in Japan. No clue at all. I don't want to embarrass her too much, but d'uh! Perhaps memory fades with time, but I have a written daily record of everything, so it must be more or less true.
We would call each other perhaps once a week or once every two weeks. It couldn't have been my imagination, but all of our chats were more than tinged with sexual innuendo--and not just from me. I'm sure she would start it!--we did talk to each other with a bit of a sexual edge. It wasn't down and dirty, but it was... charged. Why would she call me up and talk to me like that? Why the hell did I never suggest I come over to her place and spend a weekend or until the three boxes of condoms were spent--which ever came first?
Kristine, unfortunately lived a heck of a distance away from me. Maybe five hours (500 kilometers) by train in Shiga prefecture. I had a girlfriend in Ashley who was a 20 minute bicycle ride away in the town of Nishinasuno. Stupid me, or perhaps sensible me, took what looks like 20 years later to have been the path of convenience.
I'm not saying that Kristine would have slept with me--as mentioned, she denies knowing I had any interest in her. Check out the photos of her that SHE sent me. She sent me photos of herself--one was for my birthday. It was an awesome present that I used a few times. Every week for years.
The Kristine of 1990 probably didn't know what to do with me. When she and I talked, she either seemed to know of my problems with Ashley--because I told her, or she sensed them. Why the heck would she want to get in the middle of a guy too stupid to dump the cause of his angst? On more than one occasion, Kristine suggested, nay urged me, to dump Ashley and to move on. I think Kristine realized how sad I was when I had problems with Ashley.
In Japan, Kristine was my confidante. A friend with a great big bosom and brown eyes you could get lost in for days at a time. But with the looks, like I said, she was very intelligent. In fact, she's now a lawyer and is married to a great guy, and I believe (without checking the facts), is living in the D.C. area. In our last correspondence a month ago, she's still beautiful, smart and sassy, but she didn't mention Ashley.
Psychoanalyzing myself 20 years later: since I had waited 25 years to finally get a woman, I was reluctant to let go in case it (love/sex/love of sex) never came my way again. Of course hindsight is 20-20, but I'm pretty sure I missed out on a good thing.
Somewhere wishing I had a Lovin' Spoonful (they gave us today's title),
Andrew Joseph
PS - what a great looking chair!
