I felt like I was in a crazy romance movie this past weekend... [View all]

[Tom_Foolery]

First, today is the 10th anniversary of my joining DU. In that time, I've never posted anything that affected me personally; however, events this past weekend have me in a quandary.

For almost 40 years, I have often thought about my high school crush. I can still remember the first time I saw her in 1974. We never dated, but we were friends. I never had the guts to ask her out because I was the typical awkward teenage boy with no self-esteem. I always thought that she was too pretty for me and that she was attracted to the bad boys. I would leave her little anonymous notes and presents. They always seemed to make her happy, but she never knew that they were from me. Well, after high school, we went our separate ways. I did talk to her a few times, but she moved away.

Well, the time went by quickly. In the early 90s, I contacted her sister to ask for her address; and she gave it to me. I wrote her a friendly letter; and she wrote back with the usual platitudes, ending the letter by saying that maybe we'd meet again someday.

Another eight years go by; and of course, the internet is a big deal by then. I found her email and sent her a message. She replied to let me know that she was married and had two sons. I figured that she was unavailable to me (yeah, like she ever had been). In my mind, it was over.

During this whole time, I was having wonderful relationships with fantastic women. I wound up getting married in 2002, but there was that feeling of what might have been. My wife and I divorced in 2009. I adopted her daughter, so now I have a beautiful daughter and two grandsons.

Okay, last Friday evening, my sister was at a birthday party that was being held at a local restaurant. She called me about 9:00 to let me know that there was a lady there who wanted to talk to me. The lady told me who she was. It was my high school crush. She asked me if I remembered her. I said that I had been remembering her for 40 years. She asked me to come to the restaurant to see her. I said that I might. After we hung up, I jumped up; put on different clothes; and went out the door in less than a minute.

Now I haven't seen her for 35 years. The last time she saw me, I had not reached my full height and I was overweight. I finished growing to a height of 6' 1" and grew into my weight. Also, I've been working out for 30 years. Besides the fact that I have lost most of my hair, I think I look pretty good for 53.

I walked into the restaurant and spotted her immediately. She looked absolutely beautiful to me, as she always did. I could still see the teenage girl that I've thought about all these years. She looked at me and started to smile when everyone told her who I was. She jumped up and grabbed me around the neck. One of her friends asked her if she would have recognized me if she had walked by me on the street. She said that she would have because she always loved my eyes.

We sat and talked. She kept putting her arms around me and touching her face to mine. She finally told me that she had always had a thing for me and "kind of" stalked me. She even remembered where I lived as a kid. I told her that I wished I had known that back then.

She told me that she was in town because her mother had died. I gave her my sympathies. I lost my mother seven years ago, so I know how rough it can be. We talked some more, and then her attitude changed. She started to give me the cold shoulder. She kept telling me that she wasn't ignoring me, but she was.

It was getting late, so I was ready to leave. I went to her to let her know that I was leaving. I told her again that I was sorry to hear about her mother. She grabbed me around the neck again and kissed me on my ear, almost sticking her tongue in it.

On Sunday, I stopped by the funeral home to pay my respects to her and her family. I met her sons. She hugged me and told me that we need to keep in touch.

Well, she is now divorced; but she has a boyfriend back home. I have no intentions of pursuing her because she lives a 1,000 miles away. The whole event has left me with a feeling of regret, knowing that she was attracted to me back then; and neither of us did anything about it.

So there you have it.