Quote of the (Fri)day

From "The Sun King", a Gatsby-esq novel by WaPo columnsit David Ignatius:

"I leafed a few more pages to the Personals. Occasionally I scanned these for the colorful ways people chose to describe themselves. "Affectionate, voluptuous, likes travel, fit." They never said "lonely". On this evening, my eye wandered to a category I'd never noticed, called "I Saw You." They were little notes, posted by people after chance encounters with someone who had caught their eye and made them think later, when they were alone, maybe that was the one. "Starbucks, Dupont Circle, 10/28, You: brunette, red coat. Me: sandy hair, leather jacket. You smiled." "National Gallery, 10/30, 1 p.m. by the Rembrandt painting. You said hi. I was too shy." "St. Mark's Church, 10/25, you sat next to me. Are you single?"

They were the saddest things I had ever read, those notes. Each expressed in a few lines the pain of realizing, too late, that love might have been right next to you, and you had let it slip away. I tried to imagine the failures of nerve that lay behind each of the plaintive messages - the embarrassment that had come over someone's face, the sentence that wasn't finished, the pounding heart. They were afraid to speak. He'll think I sound stupid... She'll think I'm too forward. And then the moment had passed, the person was gone - and instantly, they began to regret it, and wanted it back. So they bought these advertisements, in the hope they could rewind the tape and try again."

No such failures of nerve in sight here, as the spinning orbs have returned us once again to that most hallowed of weekly moments, the Rum-and-Coke Friday afternoon. Wish me luck in the Stayner's draw. But know that if I win, regardless of the prize, I tell you right now I am throwing it all away (again) for the craic of the mystery box.