2. “She wasn’t the one that got away, but rather, she dumped me after we had been an exclusive couple for about 15 months. I was 18 (freshman in college), and she was 16 (high school senior) when we first started dating. We fell madly in love with each other, and it felt like my whole world revolved around her. She was my first serious girlfriend and my first true love. But the following year, when she moved away to start her freshman year at college, she came home at Thanksgiving and ended our relationship.”
“She had gone on a couple of dates with a guy she met in her dorm, and she wanted to be free to date other guys and experience all that college life had to offer.
The breakup devastated me. I thought for sure we would get married one day and live happily ever after.
I have been happily married for 40 years, but I still think about this old girlfriend on a regular basis. She actually did both of us a favor by ending our relationship because, in looking back on it, we were both too young and inexperienced to be seriously considering marriage. After I got over our breakup, I had four or five somewhat serious relationships with other women. My wife and I started dating a year after we first met when I was 26, and I knew pretty soon after we began an exclusive relationship that she was the woman I was going to marry.
I sometimes wonder how I would respond if my old girlfriend got in touch with me. I would be pleased to hear from her (it’s been almost 50 years since we had any contact) but I think that sometimes it is best to leave certain relationships in the past. But what I sometimes think about is if we were both widowed, could we reconnect as a romantic couple? We had a very loving relationship when we dated as teenagers, and I can’t recall ever having an argument. If she hadn’t initiated the breakup, I wouldn’t have ruled out us getting married, although, like I said earlier, it was probably best that we didn’t.
Bottom line is that I hope she is happy and doing well.”
5. “We’d dated for two years in high school, and after graduation, he met someone else. Told me about it one night, abruptly, no warning, just said that was it, that it was over. I’d thought things were fine. Devastated. He married her, bought a place, had three kids, had a good job, and so did she, and things were clicking for them. I moved with my family from our tiny village to one of the largest metro areas in the nation, and my world opened up.”
“Fell in love with the man of my dreams (my hero!), married, and life took off. Came a time we struggled, though, and took a break. Somehow old boyfriend looked me up; he was having his own crisis. Spoke on the phone several times and he wrote; when he started pushing too far, I drew a line. Went back to our spouses, me happily, he comfortably. He sends greetings on the major days; sometimes crosses the line saying he could never forgive himself for letting me go 50 years ago. Grateful he did. Always friends; but it was meant to be this way.”
20. “We were never together, but I had the biggest crush on a coworker (bad, I know). We became super close throughout the years to the point where people thought we had something going on. On my last day of work, I wanted to confess my feelings for her since I wasn’t gonna work with her anymore.”
“However, shit the fan between us before I could tell her anything. We don’t talk to each other anymore, but we’re on neutral terms. I’m in an amazing relationship today, but I sometimes think about her and hope she’s doing well. We had a lot of great memories together, but that’s all it’ll ever be. I think back and feel like she wasn’t meant to know how I felt about her. I don’t think it was in the cards for her to know, and I’m at peace with that.”
