September 12

September 12 marks the day Molina first went to a restaurant and met a man whose absence remains deeply felt. Three years later, the anniversary turns a calendar date into a measure of longing: Molina says he has thought about him all day and cries at the thought of being with him instead of where he is now.

The Anniversary

Molina identifies the date as the first day he went to the restaurant, three years earlier. The date matters not as a public occasion but as a private marker of a meeting and the attachment that followed. Its return recalls what he wishes he could share with the man: time together and conversations about the films he likes.

A Private Memory

The anniversary surfaces in conversation, but Molina is reluctant to discuss it. He says he feels embarrassed, even as the date has occupied his thoughts throughout the day. September 12 therefore holds both the memory of a beginning and the present ache of separation; remembering the meeting gives shape to a longing he struggles to voice.