Ordinary.  That was the word that came to mind as I stepped onto the metro and took a seat by the window.  Ordinary filled the metro’s yellow plastic seats and stood upon its spotless gray flooring.  Not a face among the passengers sharing my car seemed unfamiliar.  Neither had ordinary’s cast neglected the gray river lazily meandering its way through a jungle of concrete outside my Plexiglas window.  Not even my destination, the streets of downtown, qualified as unusual.  The impulse to hop a train and wander aimlessly through the city’s maze of steel and concrete seized me so often it’d become second nature.  Everything was simply ordinary.

That wasn’t to say I was dissatisfied with ordinary and waiting on extraordinary.  All this ordinariness is only important because on that day and on that metro extraordinary waltzed in and sat down across from me, bringing with it sheer delight.  And when you are lucky enough to enjoy extraordinary’s presence, nothing in that moment short of euphoria will do.  Only extraordinary never lingers.  And when it departs, it leaves you broken and aching for its company; and for a moment ordinary’s offer of simple contentment seems so ghastly unfair and completely unbearable.

Yet in that fleeting moment you sit in extraordinary’s brilliant presence nothing else matters.  Its brilliance dazzles you such that any practical thoughts of the ineludible aftermath of the elusive extraordinary’s departure are peripheral.  And in that moment, you wonder how you could’ve ever been content with anything less than extraordinary.  You ponder the unthinkable—an eternity with extraordinary.

It was that day on that train that extraordinary marveled me with its tantalizing beauty.

At precisely four forty-three in the afternoon, ordinary got off and extraordinary boarded in its place.

And at exactly four forty-three I looked up and saw it: Extraordinary.

Extraordinary manifested itself in the shape of a man.  A very beautiful man.  One so beautiful my heart ached with fierce longing.

Shy I quickly averted my eyes, but not before I realized his approach as he took a seat in the hard plastic bench across from me.  My nerves jittered in excitement, and my heart burst at the seams.  Hands shaking, my fingers wove themselves into the hem of my t-shirt, and I prayed desperately that Extraordinary—as I’d dubbed him upon sight—hadn’t noticed my reaction to his presence, ever so similar to that of a blushing schoolgirl.

As he took a seat, I felt the accidental brush of his knees against mine, and my insides melted.  Seated, his knees just barely touched mine, making me so painfully aware of his person.  A part of me wanted to reach out and draw him into my arms, and yet a part of me—the embarrassed part—wished I could simply disappear from the face of the earth.  As much as my heart longed for him, I knew I could never measure up to Extraordinary’s standards.

The metro lurched into motion before I dared raise my gaze and look him properly in the face.  I appreciated the regularity of his features and the smoothness of skin, but what I was truly enamored with were his eyes, so dark and dazzling.  The depths of his shining black orbs reflected a person both charismatic and intelligent.  His eyes alone told me he was all I could ever want.  From his liquid eyes I saw mirrored an image of myself and imagined what it’d be like to see myself mirrored there each and every day for an eternity, sparkling especially for me.  Of course, my eyes, too, would always specially light up for him.  We’d be so happy together.

A bubble of elation rose within me, and again I itched to fling my arms about him, this time proclaiming to him I’d found eternity.  Couldn’t he see just how extraordinary life would be together?  An eternity together could only promise bliss.  It already showed in his glittering eyes.

The metro jerked to a halt, briefly jolting me back to reality.  I tore my gaze away, knowing the impossibility of my fancies.  My fingers tightened about the hem of my t-shirt, my knuckles turning white, as I attempted to remain calm and resist indulging my girlish fancies.  Just as I regained my poise, the metro jumped once more into motion.

All resolve quickly came undone when his long legs twitched, and his knee bumped once again into my own.  A shock of electricity shot through me.  My fingers reached out in reflex, brushing against his knees.  Warmth tingled through my every fiber in response, bringing me to my senses.  Abashed with awareness of my traitorous hands, I hastily snatched them back and wove them once again into a tangle of hemline.  I flashed him a shy, apologetic smile, but he scarcely seemed aware.  Upon catching my eye he turned away, face expressionless.

A stab of pain struck my heart.  I hadn’t made a mark on him.  I wasn’t his Extraordinary.

The train slammed to a stop, and the automatic doors slid open.  Without so much as a glance in my direction, my Extraordinary got to his feet and walked off the metro, away from forever.  Alone I sat, yearning still for him and an eternity of shared bliss in spite of the bitter realization of rejection.

The blow of disappointment rendered me breathless.  One sentence filled my thoughts: Forever is but a beautiful dream promising more than it can actually fulfill.

Ordinary swooped in on me and perched there as if its dull presence could take away the sting of my tears.  Nothing could fill the void of the temporary ecstasy Extraordinary had brought.

Then again, that is exactly the nature of Extraordinary—a sense of sheer joy so great it can’t endure for long.  Ordinary exists to remind us of how great Extraordinary is when you chance an encounter with it.  Extraordinary is not something to capture selfishly and hold forever.  The luster of its beauty would dull, and it’d become ordinary.

Resigning myself to ordinary’s embrace, I shed bitter tears and whispered a soft goodbye to Extraordinary.  Eventually I’d grow content again with ordinary, and the fierceness of my longing would tame to but an occasional sigh.