When I was a freshman in high school, there was a senior I had a crush on for several months. The Senior and I had an art class together, and he was also friends with my best friend's brother.
So, I got to admire him (from afar) often.
I distinctly remember one time we all went out (my BFF, me, her bro and The Senior), and it became clear that maybe the crush was mutual. The only thing that came between us and our first kiss (my first-EVER kiss, to be exact) was this stupid rubber band I had for my braces that went from the top right eye tooth to the bottom left one.
That's right. In a diagonal. Across the front of my mouth.
(I'm convinced to this day that blogdad bribed the orthodontist to do that just so I couldn't kiss boys. A braces chastity belt, if you will.)
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when The Senior found me on Facebook. He now lives in Florida, and we started emailing for a couple of weeks. We got caught up on each others' lives and joked about our mutual crushes back in high school, and the fact that we never really acted on our feelings.
(Isn't it funny that a senior/freshman romance seems so crazy in high school, but when you're in your 30s, the age difference is nothing at all?)
Anyhow, even though I know nothing will ever happen with The Senior (he lives in Florida, after all -- and he listens to country music), it was nice to hear from someone who knew me back when I had braces and dark curly hair.
The Senior said the sweetest things in his messages to me, telling me that I had grown up to be quite a catch -- boosting a down girl's ego at just the right time. And then, he sent me this email after I had posted pics from a wedding I had gone to the weekend before:
You're so pretty it's retarded.
Now, I know what you're thinking. It's sort of flattering and sort of offensive, no? (I thought the same thing.) But then he followed it up with this:
The 14 year old girl I knew in high school with the bobbed hair and braces was cute. I suppose I owe you an apology for saying you were pretty, I guess I meant to say beautiful.
Wow! After several months of dating and boy disasters (I mean, DI-SAAAAAS-TERS), something about that email from him gave me just the boost I needed.
So, thanks, The Senior. K.I.T., ok?
AAB's got her groove back, thanks to you. (And, for the record, getting out of the funk gave me the inspiration to get my ass back in shape. Literally.)
Did you ever have someone -- especially someone relatively random -- help get you out of a funk?
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