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perth · 01-14-2005, 04:10 PM

I dated a girl my senior year of high school, a preacher's daughter. She was as much a rebound relationship as you can expect from an 18 year old. A beautiful girl, and as sweet a girl as I've ever met. I was truly lucky to have her interested in me, but thanks to selfish youth I completely failed to realise it. I smoked and partied behind her back. I neglected to spend time with her, and generally behaved in a self-centred manner. But I was completely smitten. We both knew that when the summer ended, so too would our relationship, but in my mind I believed that it would somehow continue. It didn't, and we agreed we would keep in touch.

Keeping in touch meant regularly sending each other care packages, pictures, and the constant exchange of emails. I guess I took this continued closeness as persistence of our relationship. I found she didn't feel the same way when she called me one night for advice regarding this guy she met. I said awful, horrible, hurtful things to her. I was angry, hurt and still far too selfish.

So I eventually got over it and moved on with my life. I moved to Iowa City for a change of scenery (yeah, it's a lot nicer than you might think, I actually miss that town from time to time). I spent the time there learning to be myself, learning to wake up with a positive attitude and not spend all my time being miserable.

After "finding" myself in Iowa, I came back to Colorado and got a job at the local Sam's Club. Turns out she worked there too. I wouldn't say I was awful to her at this point, but I did make a point of avoiding her. Until she cornered me, telling me we needed to talk. I agreed, realising that I never owed someone an apology the way I did her. We decided to get together for coffee sometime. Time got away from the both of us, and we never had that coffee. Before I knew it, she had left again for school and I never got a chance to tell her about what went on in my head.

The whole experience was one of my defining moments. I look back and realise that not only did I carry a torch for that girl, but I managed to mess things up at every turn. She was truly my first love, and I learned more from her than any girl I had ever known to that point in my life. I may have fucked things up, but I am thank ful I got to know her and got to learn so much about myself as a result of my time with her.

I guess this is only marginally about unrequited love. I think about it a lot though, and it was nice to get it off my chest. I think her influence was in large part the reason I can still count Case as a friend, despite the divorce.

01-14-2005, 04:10 PM	#7
perth Strong Silent Type Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Fort Collins, CO Posts: 1,949	I dated a girl my senior year of high school, a preacher's daughter. She was as much a rebound relationship as you can expect from an 18 year old. A beautiful girl, and as sweet a girl as I've ever met. I was truly lucky to have her interested in me, but thanks to selfish youth I completely failed to realise it. I smoked and partied behind her back. I neglected to spend time with her, and generally behaved in a self-centred manner. But I was completely smitten. We both knew that when the summer ended, so too would our relationship, but in my mind I believed that it would somehow continue. It didn't, and we agreed we would keep in touch. Keeping in touch meant regularly sending each other care packages, pictures, and the constant exchange of emails. I guess I took this continued closeness as persistence of our relationship. I found she didn't feel the same way when she called me one night for advice regarding this guy she met. I said awful, horrible, hurtful things to her. I was angry, hurt and still far too selfish. So I eventually got over it and moved on with my life. I moved to Iowa City for a change of scenery (yeah, it's a lot nicer than you might think, I actually miss that town from time to time). I spent the time there learning to be myself, learning to wake up with a positive attitude and not spend all my time being miserable. After "finding" myself in Iowa, I came back to Colorado and got a job at the local Sam's Club. Turns out she worked there too. I wouldn't say I was awful to her at this point, but I did make a point of avoiding her. Until she cornered me, telling me we needed to talk. I agreed, realising that I never owed someone an apology the way I did her. We decided to get together for coffee sometime. Time got away from the both of us, and we never had that coffee. Before I knew it, she had left again for school and I never got a chance to tell her about what went on in my head. The whole experience was one of my defining moments. I look back and realise that not only did I carry a torch for that girl, but I managed to mess things up at every turn. She was truly my first love, and I learned more from her than any girl I had ever known to that point in my life. I may have fucked things up, but I am thank ful I got to know her and got to learn so much about myself as a result of my time with her. I guess this is only marginally about unrequited love. I think about it a lot though, and it was nice to get it off my chest. I think her influence was in large part the reason I can still count Case as a friend, despite the divorce.