Pinkflash Tiger...Who Is She?

Many have asked and wondered...the tiger...who is she?

The "tiger" is not a real tiger animal, though they are so rare and needing our care and protection.  She is not a golfer!
She is... a lost love.

This is a sad story, and it is a true story.  It may someday have an outcome that is not so sad.

Eugene is a Dutch chemist. Married, quite happily after fifteen years.  At a conference for chemists in Tokyo, he met Natalia from Brazil.  He is 55, she is 27.  They were accidentally next to each other at the conference when a small earthquake rattled the hotel and conference center during a professional presentation.  Natalia in fear touched Eugene's arm and they talked, during, and again after the meeting.  Their relationship grew in the following weeks and months.  A few letters and a trail of emails flowed and after many months, both had opened their hearts to each other.  They shared their professional lives and facts, then family, then deeper personal challenges each faced in pursuit of dreams...

They met again after nine months.  Natalia flew to Holland and spent two days there to see Eugene on her way to a conference in Norway.  They shared lunch, afternoon tea, walking the streets and canals of Amsterdam.  Natalia shared her true feelings with Eugene that in spite of their ages, one was married, one was not, she was beginning to be deeply moved and Eugene shared the same in words and looks.  They exchanged gifts, she a box of personal souvenirs for him from Brazil...he gave her his recent book and a pen with her name engraved...there was a hug at the airport, nothing more physical than that...Eugene has his photos of that day...she has her memory...

Upon her return from Brazil, she received an email from him that he now had developed deep feelings for her...

Natalia sent Eugene a goodbye.  She feared she would hurt him, his wife, her family, and very much she feared being hurt herself...she had never felt this way before...she could see no future for them.

Both were in pain for months and both feared breaking the silence with the other because both feared being abandoned from something they felt that had overtaken each and them together....both felt frozen.  Neither one could share the story because no one would seem to understand.

Eugene wrote letters he just put away.  Natalia tried to forget Eugene.  Neither could forget the other.  Life for each went on....and on...and on...

And so the story ends here.  Eugene wrote about Natalia.  One day he saw a tiger at the Berlin zoo.  The tiger looked at him, then darted behind the rocks.  Eugene tried to find the tiger, but could not.  He tried but could not find the tiger anywhere again...

Eugene is a friend of mine.  I understand.  He told me of the tiger at the zoo.  He wanted to tell me what I already knew.  The tiger was her....Natalia...

I knew...I have seen this tiger...I have also seen this tiger hide and run into the night...
....this tiger is our lost love....we cannot forget her...

Eugene....me....you....
we are not alone....