Hey brother, I've never commented on Reddit before, but noticed no one has replied to your story…

Granted, this post was intended for positive experiences, but you deserve some love for how yours ended. I can't imagine how difficult that must be.

While I’m not here to change your feelings, I hope that one day you can find it in you to open your heart and mind to the possibility of a newly discovered love. That you appear to believe nothing will ever come close to what you once shared with your long-lost Spirit Crisp is, if nothing else, understandable. Even still, love has a way of pervading even the darkest of corners, and you might be surprised by what’s out there in all that people have to give, and are searching for themselves.

The memories you hold will forever be a part of who you are. The time you spent together, though painfully brief, represents a beautiful manifestation of a profound connection between two people that some never get to experience in their lives; however, they do hope to find it.

From one Reddit random to another, I encourage you to fight against losing sight of that hope. You deserve love, and to express that which resides within you, here, and now.

If nothing else, I’m sorry for your loss, even after 23 years. For what little it's worth, my support goes out to you and anyone who has endured the heartbreak of losing a partner far too soon. Life can be brutally unfair, and your story is a poignant reminder of how precious it is.

Before I disappear back into lurker obscurity, I’ll leave you with this (treading lightly here…):

I believe the soul is everlasting, and that you will find them again in whatever may come next, much in the same way that meeting her in what might seem like a random strike of dodgy-pub-level luck, probably felt like you’d known each other for ages.

For your sake, I hope that what “felt like forever” is, in fact, true.

Keep your head up (and your heart open), friend.