The 7 Year Face

I saw a familiar face today. It was one I had not seen in over 7 years. If I recall, I may have broken a mirror 7 years ago. But, then again I am not that superstitious.
I see this face for a second at this large, national retail store where you can buy just about anything. ( I don't like to advertise for this particular company. I do not agree with their corporate business practices. Another story for another day.) Holding my 3 year old nephew, talking with my older sister, while pushing the cart with my 3 month old niece asleep in her carrier, my mother lead the way around this newly built Saginaw store.
One has to understand that in Saginaw, especially if you grew up in Saginaw, and especially if both sides of your family have been in the area since 1950, it is proven statistically that you will see someone you know, or you will see someone who knows you.
Anyway, I see this face. It was a face I first looked at with teenage hormonal infatuation. It was a face that actually payed attention to my face when we were younger. It was a face that smiled and laughed with sincere humor when I said something funny. It was a face I remember talking to and realizing that I had met my match intellectually. It was a face that I remember looking into and feeling for the first time how scared I was of love. It was a face that pursed her lips for a kiss at her front door one night because she loved me. It was the same face that I made those smiles turn into sneers within a year, not because I disliked the girl, but because I was too scared of love to show her how I felt.
This one glance at her face brought back all these memories and emotions like one deep inhaled breath of fresh air. Somehow, this memory is like the deep inhale of a flutist before a conductor delivered fermata. The fermata is a breath of relief, and not knowing when the end will come is the excitement. I know each exhale will deliver another year, with another memory stashed away, only to be rediscovered later on down the road with some other face I will see.
But, I see this face and the typical dance down Memory Lane is different. I cannot easily forget this face as easily as other memories. Why? I did not speak to her in aisle 7, for it was only a brief second I saw her. It may not have even been her. The face I first loved in aisle 7 after 7 years of the curse of the broken mirror may have only been wishful seeing with my mind's eye. I did not see her in the store again, for we were leaving and I was preoccupied with the youthful exuberance of my nephew.
Come to think of it, we both broke that little compact mirror together 7 years ago while together one night. Of course, I made a joke about it, but did not know it would end up cursing me for the next 7 years. Soon after that, everything started turning into turbulence. The broken mirror created a haze over our love for one another, to the point of dislike for each other. Somehow, only time would reveal the real truth in each of our hearts. The pieces were all shattered, only to be picked back up 7 years later, in aisle 7, and in a store where you can choose anything you need in life. Maybe, just maybe, my 7 years of misfortune in love is expired. Well, then again, I'm not that superstitious.