I spent Thanksgiving with my family, but left that day to drive back to Mayur's place and hang out with him. My mom and grandma packed all kinds of food up for him to try (they knew about him at this point - though I'd only known him for a grand total of about four weeks by then, I suppose). He promptly took my grandmother's delicious mashed potatoes, frowned at their bland taste (in his opinion!) mixed them with chili powder, salt, and probably something else, then pressed this mixture between the two sides of a dinner roll, declaring that this greatly improved the taste and quality of the food. I'd like to see him try that in front of my grandmother!
The holidays rolled along, as they do, and both our office Christmas parties were coming up. He worked at a proper large corporation, and as such this large corporation had a huge, very corporate holiday party planned. I was fairly surprised when he invited me to go with him. We'd had a few discussions by this time about my existence and the lack of the knowledge of this on the part of, well, anyone from his life outside the town he'd lived in for three months, so I didn't really think he'd want anyone from his office to know about me either. I was starting to get the feeling that I was some kind of dirty little secret.
I work at a large proper corporation too, but at the time, I worked in a small regional office (I work from home now, which is awesome!) in Texas. We were having a Christmas party too, and I was planning it. I booked us a suite at a hockey game - lots of food, good wine, and plenty of fun. And of course Mayur was coming with me. It was the first time he was meeting some of my coworkers - he quickly settled into a quiet conversation with the resident IT guru, talking data, technology, and things like that. This guy happens to be a very senior person in my company, and a good friend to me. I was glad they were bonding.
After the home team's victory, everyone was still eager to keep the party going. We headed to a blues club which, fortunately for me, was on the way back to the town where I lived. After a couple of hours of loud music, drinks, and a smoky bar, I decided it was time to go. I work with a rowdy bunch. I heard that after we left a couple of guys nearly got into a smackdown fight in the bar with some random guys who were hitting on some of the girls from our group - I was glad I was not there for that drama.
I felt like he was really my boyfriend then, walking into to his company party. I felt so proud walking in on his arm, navigating (on heels that made me nearly as tall as him) through the massive corporate office transformed into a winter wonderland. In one room a hired photographer took semi-professional photos, to be delivered to the employees in their offices the following week. Our first photo together. We met some of his coworkers, too - this was the first time I had the fun experience of standing quietly as he spoke in Hindi with the guys while their wives looked at me suspiciously.
Our third holiday party was at the home of a friend of Melissa's. All my girlfriends were going to be there; he'd only ever met Melissa, and I was excited for him to meet everyone else, most of all Melissa's boyfriend Brian. I knew they'd have a lot in common. We had a great time at the party and enjoyed ourselves until late that night, returning back to our shared neighborhood that sparkled under the glow of tens of thousands of holiday lights and a giant community Christmas tree that I could see through the panes of the French doors in my tiny apartment.
Christmas approached, and I wondered if Mayur and I would celebrate together and exchange gifts. This would actually be his first Christmas - growing up Hindu in a part of India without many Christians meant he hadn't even really been exposed to the pop culture version of the Christmas season - shiny red bows, Christmas carols, traditional foods - this was all new to him. I planned to leave to celebrate the holiday with my mother, stepdad and his family the day before Christmas Eve, then head to my grandma's house to celebrate. So we decided to celebrate before I left.
We both ended up getting each other stockings filled with all kinds of different treats. I was really touched by how well he knew me and what sweet presents he picked out - from the stuffed kitten that I would end up taking with me on all my work trips over the following two years to the bottle of perfume that I used to the last drop. He liked his gifts too, and we both just seemed so happy that Christmas.
I never would have dreamed that just two days later my whole world would be ripped out from under my feet, and that this sweet boy would be the only bright spot in my life as the twinkling lights dimmed and everything around me turned very, very dark.
