The Magic of a Picture Dream by Jamie Gilcig – April 3, 2013

CFN – Social media has changed the world.  Words and pixels, photos, funny, weak, insane, and then I saw her face; her picture.

I had no idea who she was or why her haunting eyes and mouth gazed out at me from my screen.

Was it the second or third glass of wine that had me hit the friend button and send out that spark thousands of miles away?    It’s not like it was internet porn or some Hollywood glossy dream.   It wasn’t lust.  It wasn’t love.

It was an insane flicker of electricity.

Flicker, and flash, and then a response.

Months went by with nary a word.  No poking.  No hellos or “Do I know you’s”

Just that haunting face that for some reason bolted through me.    It was insane.  I didn’t know this person.  For all I knew they were crazy, or had one of those chain smoking voices or smelled like something you used chemicals on that never worked, but just mixed with the stank.

One day curiosity got the better, and the about me button was clicked.

I scrolled through photos, read silly things and notes as I watched glimpes of a whole life and family scroll by.   Holidays, trips, the mundane, the merry.

And then the head shake of reality.   Two lives lived worlds apart.  Different countries; different upbringings, different planets almost.

Magical, and the silence would forever keep the magic alive.    I had a hunch deep down that it’d go poof if I ever reached out and tried to learn more about my pixelated dream girl.

Better to never know the why’s or why nots.    Sometimes daydreams aren’t such a bad thing.

After all, a picture can last forever.