Face to Face on Facebook

I recently joined Facebook because my friends said "I had to". It was interesting seeing which of my friends were already members. I had my nieces' cousins, people I hadn't seen in years and people I talk to almost every day inviting me to be added as their friends. I had listed my high school and the year I graduated (39 years ago - could it really be that long). Every very few days I'd get an email with someone inviting me to be their friend or telling me that someone had written on my wall.

One day when I was on Facebook I noticed that they had listed names and photos of people I had gone to high school with all those years ago. I went to a very large school so didn't recognize most of the names. And then suddenly one name and picture appeared that took me down memory lane. It was David Spitato (name changed to protect the innocent).

When I was in 7th grade I was very much what would be called a "nerd" today (or is "nerd" outdated now and there's a new term). David Spitato was tall, handsome and cool. He would wear the brightly colored paisely or striped shirts with white cuffs and collars that were so popular in the mid-60's (and have made a comeback a few times since). He walked through the halls of my junior high school with such confidence because he knew he was beautiful.

My girlfriend, MaryAnne (a fellow nerd) and I were all in the same math class. MaryAnne and I had given David Spitato the code name "Dreamboat". We would pass notes in class saying "Dreamboat loooked at me" or "Doesn't Dreamboat look great today". Of course, he never noticed MaryAnne or me. We were not in his league.

By the time I got to senior high school I had lost weight, learned how to fix my hair and apply make up and I looked good. Dreamboat went to the same high school but I had long since lost my crush on him and he was just another face in the crowd. I had a good looking, cool boyfriend. Afte graduation and all these years later the only time I ever even thought of Dreamboat was just before Christmas when I would send MaryAnne a card and put in comments about our days together in junior high.

Suddenly seeing Dreamboat's picture on Facebook put me into shock. He had thinning grey hair, was plump and looked really old. Being in my late 50's I find that people my age can either still look relatively young or they can look really old. Dreamboat didn't age well. Wish I had never come face to face with him on Facebook. I'd much rather remember him the way he looked in 7th grade.