Member-only story
An Old Boyfriend, A Long-Lost I.D. Bracelet, And A Heartbreaking Mystery
I never expected my 6th-grade boyfriend to show up in my life again …
Like a jillion other people, I belong to a certain social network designed to connect professionals, post job openings, and offer career advice. Every day, this network sends you a notice with a handful of people who’ve searched your profile. Of course, you can pay for an upgraded membership that will reveal the names of every single person who searches for you. I do not need to know that. I can barely keep track of the two other people living in my house.
Last week, I received a notification that my 6th-grade boyfriend searched for me. What? That was pretty odd as we hadn’t spoken since I moved away in 7th grade. Our entire “relationship” was very brief and innocent. He lived two houses down the block from me. Proximity aside, we had very little in common.
He came from a WASPy, well-mannered, perfectly-manicured house loaded with plaid furniture, football trophies, and mallard duck wallpaper.
I, on the other hand, lived a mostly feral existence in a massive white house that was despised by the entire neighborhood. If his was a Leave It To Beaver life, mine was more of a Mom’s Playing Tennis With Her Friends Somewhere And Dad Is…
