Tuesday, January 09, 2007

On Being Memorable

Since Harley just made herself emotionally vunerable, I thought that I'd share the following anecdote (in between a rather busy day at work):

During my senior year of high school I met and dated a guy I'll call Flyboy (because he was at the Air Force Academy, and is now a pilot). It was a whirlwind romance, we met over his winter break (I had aready been accepted to a college that was NOT located in Colorado Springs), had a great time for something like four days, and decided to make a go of it. The next three months were filled with emotional emails and letters (yes, I write love letters), and the occasional phone call. I know for a fact that he had my high school yearbook picture on his desk. At any rate, for the first, and only, time in my life I said "I love you" first, and he couldn't reciprocate. He freaked out, and we broke up two weeks later, a week before my birthday.

Flash forward four years.

I'm a senior in college, I have a better haircut, contacts instead of glasses, and have gained about 30 pounds, but in the "right" places. I am, however, clearly still the same person. During winter break I go over to the house of a good friend, only to find Flyboy sitting in the living room. We haven't spoken since the breakup, over which I cried. I try to play it cool, greet my friend, and say hi to Flyboy. He looks a bit confused, but says nothing. I figure that he is trying to do the same. Oh, no. About 10 minutes into the conversation he turns to me (in front of an audience of about 5 people) and says: "Hey, I don't think we've met, I'm Flyboy." I am SHOCKED. My response is: "Hey, I'm Annie, we dated." I have never seen anyone turn that red, either before or since. Nice to know that I was so memorable. *sigh*

And that is what I get for dating non-Jews.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow that's harsh. If you substitute "had sex" for "dated", I've been in both positions.

LT said...

Ouch. That's way harsh. =(

I guess, if nothing else, this shows that he had a much greater impact on you than you had on him. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is a clear sign that you two never could have worked out. I had a similar late high school brief-but-extremely-intense relationship as well... I still think of it occasionally, but I wonder if she ever thinks about it anymore.

PS - First Harley's post, then mine, then this? What is this, National Remember Past Relationships Day?

Annie said...

Anon- thankfully that was not the case. Also, and this is in no way meant to be a judgement, I haven't dated enough people to forget any of them.

LT- I disagree. Once he knew who I was he remembered, and remembered all of the details, he just didn't recognize me. And to be fair, I hadn't thought of him in a long time either. Also, as much as he talked about converting, the whole non-Jewish thing would've killed it eventually.

And I think that clearly today IS National Remember Past Relationships Day.

Anonymous said...

sorry to read your story...we at the salad know what it's like to have a hanging "i love you."

i'll try and find some good antiquated verb synonymous with longing and remembrance.

Annie said...

Thanks Dash. Fortunately I haven't had that experience for a while. Although I did leave an "I love you" hanging in my last relationship, but that's because by the time he said it, I didn't feel it. And I definitely appreciate the promise of an obscure word. I love obscure words.