I met Catalina on an alternative walking tour in Berlin, and liked each other enough that we continued to tour the city after the official one was over. She’s Colombian, and was on her way to Switzerland to receive an award for her research on abused women in Colombia. We had both recently gotten out of relationships, and bonded over that oh-so-familiar heartbreak and longing. We spent two days walking all over the city, occasionally launching into stories of the past that the other listened with compassion and understanding.
I missed her on my trip to Colombia a couple of years later, but reunited when she visited San Francisco not too long after. She told me she and her partner had reconciled their differences and were happily relaunching a new chapter in their lives. Only then did I realize her partner was a woman, and wondered if she had not felt comfortable enough to share that with me when we met the first time, despite how much we had talked about our relationships. Or, perhaps it was I who had been ignorant, and never made a connection? Either way, it further cemented the idea that love is universal, no matter your age, nationality, or orientation.
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