1961–1965: Catholic high school
The nuns arranged classrooms alphabetically, so I, Nancy B., sat in front of Charlie B. for four years. We became fast friends, all because of the alphabet.
Charlie was outgoing and very, very funny. I was shy, quiet, and had to be well-behaved because my mother worked at the school; the nuns brought every move I made to "the good woman" in the business office.
Charlie and I began to exchange letters after high school—which led to dating when Charlie came home from college during the summers. He has said since that the first piece of jewelry he ever bought "for a lady" was for me. It was a gold necklace with one pearl. He mailed it … but I never received it.
I went to nursing school, and during my senior year there, I became engaged to the boy I had dated in high school. Charlie came back home and heard that I was getting married and was sad, but then he left to join the navy. I married in 1969 and had three children. Charlie relocated to California, met his wife, and had three children of his own.
Neither marriage worked out as well as we had hoped. Over the years, Charlie and I corresponded—prompted by parents passing away and, later, when I chaired a high school fundraising event. I'd always promised to attend the high school reunions … but never did. I think we both sometimes wondered what life might have been like if we'd married each other.
Charlie left me a message on our class's fiftieth reunion Facebook page: He was planning on attending and wondered if I'd like to get together for lunch with him and a third classmate. He still didn't know that I was divorced. Prior to that visit, Charlie called and we talked for two and a half hours. When we met for lunch, it was like nothing had changed in fifty years. Every day since, he has texted me in the morning and called each evening—and we have made several trips cross-country to visit. We are still best friends—with a little something else—and the romance continues.
Oh, and last Christmas? I received a gold necklace with one pearl. Finally.
—NANCY
