When I posted on social media that I was going through a divorce, Dan, my college sweetheart , messaged me asking if we could talk on the phone. I was very surprised to hear from him. On the phone, Dan apologized for breaking up with me through a text message back in during my junior year of college.
I told him that text message was forever ago, but his apology made me wonder what life would have looked like if we stayed together in college: Would we have lasted after graduation and gotten married? Would we have kids, pets, and a home together?
After hearing Dan's voice, something changed in me. I could suddenly see his red Cavalier. I was skipping my college class , packing an overnight bag, and dashing to Penn Station for the LIRR train to be with him in his dorm. I suddenly got a second chance at love with Dan. We share the same hometown outside Syracuse, New York, but he was a year older, so we hung out with different crowds. We officially met in the summer when I was turning 19 and working as a waitress, and he was the dish boy.
Coincidentally, I was going to college in New York City, and he was studying aviation on Long Island, so our campuses were a quick train ride apart. I had been his first kiss and even took his virginity.
Back then, I was eccentric and artsy, talking a mile a minute. I wanted to be a model in magazines, and I made my own clothing using a glue gun. Dan was shy and more serious; he wasn't interested in going to a Roman-themed college party like I was. He was focused on his dream of becoming an airline pilot and studying his flight books.
