Something Amazing

Peter Bonavich is a character in my post-modern novel, Blacktime Song by Rosalie Wolfe. Although he only appears as 'written about' by another character in the novel, he lives and breathes quite nicely. At the end of the novel, we want to know more about him because, among other things, he is the father of Meadow Wolfe Dent, a BYU professor who has never seen or heard from him. Meadow is the most essential character in the book; we feel for her.
I based the character Peter Bonavich on an old Colorado Springs schoolmate of mine from Junior High. We knew each other in the classroom from 7th grade through the first semester of our Junior year when I moved to Texas. Our relationship was mostly one of sheer observation, but I always thought highly of him, and -- more important -- remembered him.
Before I published my story, I searched him out to ask permission to use his whole name for this fictional character. He, in turn, asked me to read him (over the phone) the parts in which Peter was mentioned, so I did. It was rather embarrassing since it had to do with making love. The real Peter and I had never even danced together, let alone kissed, let alone ....
At this point, I can finally get to what was amazing. On April 2nd of this year, I met Peter Bonavich in person after 52 years! My husband, two of his friends, and I ate lunch at the the Vera Cruz Fish House in San Marcos, California, and Peter accepted my invitation to drive up from San Diego to eat with us. It was a big moment for me. All the reasons I remembered him came back to mind. But here comes the real surprise: He has a pioneer Mormon background through his mother like I do! And,in fact, he also has Native American heritage (not to mention Jewish heritage) like I do. This makes my fictional portrayal of him a lot more accurate than I realized. There is no way that we ever talked about this as teenagers, that's for darn sure.
Various readers of my novel have wondered what part of it is actually based on truth. Well, when I made the fictional mother of Meadow say to the fictional Peter, "Sometimes I know things I don't know I know" I was TRULY telling the truth (little did I know). I apparently knew something real about the real Peter Bonavich, only it took me 52 years to realize it. This knowledge feeds my sense of mysticism. It confirms grace. SomeOne GOOD is messing with me, giving me opportunities to enjoy life, even as I plow through difficulties and sadness; I have joy.
FINAL NOTE: Excuse me for a bit of promotion for Blacktime Song by Rosalie Wolfe. Peter Bonavich read my whole novel the day before he met us for lunch. He apologized for his "trepidation" but he seemed glad to tell me that he knew it was going to be good, but he didn't know it was going to be THAT good, "stunningly good." He called the overall architecture of it "brilliant." Now you can fully imagine why it was such a big moment for me.