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Where are they now?

mycoupons | 21 March, 2007 06:30

I have been happily married (to the same man) for almost eight years. We have two beautiful children, and live a very charmed life.

But, I would be lying if I said I didn't always WONDER the what-if's. I think we ALL do that to some extent. Anyone that didn't marry their first love will always wonder what if.

Of all of my friends, we ALL have 'one that got away.' Granted, it may be a good thing that he did, but he did get away nonetheless.

My one was Jason Fratello.

Jason was my high school boyfriend for close to two years. I spent the first half of my senior year writing 'Dr. & Mrs. Jason Fratello, D.D.S' over and over in my black and white composition book.

After graduation, Jason was going to a state university to study biology, and then dental school. I was going to a private university to study business and then law school. We were going to live THE perfect life.

Then Jason dumped me.

Four days before prom. My life can clearly be defined by that day. There was my life before then, and my life after. I cried a million tears and mourned for the life I would never have with Jason. Graduation day was the last I saw or heard of Jason.

I went to college, life moved on. The years skipped by. I met my husband, I fell in love, I had babies, but I always still wondered what would have been.

Around Christmas time, I got an email.

It was from Classmates.com. Jason Fratello had sent me a note! My heart sank into my shoes as I read the words thirty times. I wondered if reading the email would open doors I shouldn't. I wondered if reading the email would send me into a spiral of depression reading about Jason and his Mrs. Dr. Jason Fratello, D.D.S.

I decided to log in and read it. I found a problem. I was not a GOLD member. If I wanted to read, I had to PAY. So like a dog tied to a tree on a 3 foot leash, I was SO close, but could go no further.

What an ingenious marketing concept. Dangle the proverbial carrot in front of people, and give them just a small taste. They'll want more, because curiosity ALWAYS gets the best of people. And then, bill them.

I let that email sit for TWO weeks. The suspense driving me crazy, I finally coughed up the $15 for a three month membership.

That was THE BEST $15 I have EVER spent.

Jason emailed a quick hello how are you doing, what's up with your life? He also added his email address.

I then sat on that email address for another two weeks. I didn't want to lie and tell him that I lived a fabulous jet-setting life like he surely did. I also didn't want to tell him I had turned into an overweight, underdressed mom of two with a very wonderful, loyal and predictable husband.

In the meantime, since I had a GOLD membership, I started looking up everyone I used to know. I found that the prom queen had a 15 year old son, (I graduated 15 years ago- you do the math.)

I learned that a guy I used to hide behind the cafeteria with and smoke had been killed in 9/11.

I also found Amanda. Amanda is still living in our hometown, and still very much involved in others lives. She was an excellent source of gossip and updates, and I am so glad I found her again!

As for Jason, I finally broke down and emailed him. I told him I was married, had two kids, living 200 miles from our hometown, and asked how he was.

He emailed me back about 3 hours later. And boy, did he let it flow. Seems that he DID go to that state university- for two semesters. He dropped out.

He is a Doctor.

A Dr. of plants. He works as a landscaper. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) He got divorced a few years ago, when he found his wife consorting with another man. He has an appointment next month to have a tattoo of her image removed from his forearm and just bought his very own motorcycle.

His email was written in all capital letters, void of all punctuation and riddled with misspelling and grammatical infractions.

Towards the end of his letter, he apologized for breaking up with me before prom. He said he has lived every single day of his life since then with regret. He has never stopped wondering what if, and did I feel the same? If so, did we owe it to ourselves to try again?

It was with a complete and total clear conscience that I was able to reply, "No, I am sorry. I do not wonder what if. I am an overweight, underdressed mom of two, who is married to a wonderful, loyal and predictable man, and I LOVE my life."

According to Amanda, Jason is now serving a short stint in the pokey for some minor crimes.

My membership to Classmates expired last week. They emailed me, asking if I wanted to renew my subscription. I deleted the email.

I have every answer I will ever need right here.

Sometimes, the past is better left in the past.

Until we meet again,
Cici
Cici@MyCoupons.com