A few years ago, I heard my phone ring. I’d been lounging outside by the pool and answered the phone a little out of breath. A guy on the other end asked for me. “This is me,” I replied, thinking it was some telemarketer. The guy on the other end kind of laughed, then said, astonished, “Oh my God, you sound exactly the same.”
“Who is this?” I asked.
The guy on the other end gave his name. I almost dropped the phone. All I could manage to say was, “Wow! This is a blast from the past.”
Turns out my first big crush from college, from almost 30 years ago, somehow tracked me down and got up the courage to call me. I knew he was married, or at least he was some 25 years before. We graduated college before I was actually married, but I think he knew I was engaged back then. I wondered how he’d tracked me down, since I didn’t think he knew my husband’s last name. He said “You’d be amazed at what you can find on the internet.” It might have helped him out that for a time I hyphenated my last name, but still. I have to admit I was somewhat flattered that after so many years, someone would bother tracking me down.
This guy had my heart back in the day. In fact, he was the reason I had just about given up on guys the night I met Big Daddy. I’m pretty sure he had feelings for me, too, but at the time it was one of those “It’s Complicated” situations. And I guess he chose “Boring and Simple” over “Fantastic and Complicated.” His loss.
Anyways, we talked about what we’d been up to for the past two decades. We chatted and bragged about our kids. He said he had just moved back to the Pittsburgh area (about a half hour away from me) and would like if I called him at work to meet him for lunch sometime. Seems his wife was stuck back in their old home in Erie (about 3 hours away) until his daughter finished her senior year of high school. Hmmm. I told Big Daddy about the call a couple days later. I’m betting he didn’t tell his wife.
