They had it all wrong.

Those countless films, and novels, and greeting cards, and song lyrics that spouted ideas about the euphoria, and arousal, and warm fuzzies a person felt while experiencing the ever coveted and elusive Love At First Sight. They had it wrong.

I knew they had it wrong, because it happened to me. And I remember that it hurt. That first time. Looking at her hurt.

There was this vacant space in the middle of my heart, waiting to be filled by someone worthy. Someone different. Someone removed from vapid, frivolous, pop-culture bull shit. Most of the time I was successful in ignoring it. But when I saw her that space became a physical, sentient thing. It ached and swelled, begging to be filled.

It hurt. Her face, her voice, her presence. The best pain I'd ever felt.

That was how I knew, no matter how brief our encounter, I would never be the same. I would be different. The world as I knew it would be different.

In the immortal words of Bob Dylan, "The Times, They Are-a-Changin'."

His song had it right.

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