A Quiet Blast From the Past

In a conversation with a Constant Reader today, we talked about people from our past suddenly showing up and we wondered how we would handle it. Funny that it came up…

About a half year or so ago, my x-husband emails me. I got the email at work, saw the name - and froze. What could he possibly want? The last time he called he needed a reason for our divorce because he wanted to marry a girl in the Catholic Church. My mother took the call, and who knows what she said to him. So, 28 years it's been since we were married, and now all of a sudden he's emailing me. While staring at that unopened email in my inbox, the worst goes through my mind. What if he's contacting me to tell me that he's been HIV+ all his life, just found out and has to tell everyone he's ever been with? What does he need to know now to marry yet again?

So my mind goes until I couldn't take the suspense any longer and I finally opened that email. It was just a "hi, how are you?" To be honest, I was a bit let down after all the fluff I had worked up in my head. I replied with a short, non committing "fine, how are you?" and we began emailing back and forth.

It was strange, to say the least. He turned out to be a decent person, educated, solid, still works at the same place he worked when I left him all those years ago - and a total stranger to me. Well, I'm a total stranger to me now too, compared to the person I was almost 30 years ago! What I can remember, that is. There was a thought that stuck in my craw: Why? Why contact me now, after all these years?

I thought about it and thought about it and knew I had to ask, so I emailed the fateful question. A long time goes by before I get a reply: We found each other interesting way back when, and now that we no longer have the pressures of being married too young, we can be friends. I was impressed. That's reasonable, and a good answer - just one that didn't happen to answer my question. I repeated the question and suggested that it sounded like he was someone in rehab or going through AA working to make amends.

And, that's the last I've heard from him.

Constant Reader and I continue our conversation. This time, it's about an unknown somebody "from home" that checks this blog three times a day, every day without fail. One friend told me that it just couldn't be a woman, a woman wouldn't be so obsessed; it's probably the old boyfriend. Constant Reader agrees, thinking the old boyfriend was probably trying to work up the nerve to contact me.

To me, the mystery is sort of fun, though a bit on the creepy side. Keep reading, whoever you are. A blogger counts on those hits!

Thanks for reading!