What Has Been on My Mind, part II

I had such a fun day on Friday. I think I am pretty sold now on volunteering for races. I'll continue running The Dirty Dash because it is such a blast, and it is on dirt, so it doesn't hurt my knee as much to run. But road races on foot, I think they are just out now. But volunteering is a blast. Yesterday, I was surrounded by Santa Claus, to be more exact, 300+ runners dressed up like Santa Claus. I was assigned to to the runner registration, but ended up staying and helping for all parts of the 5k. I even awarded the Gold, Silver and Bronze metals to the winners. Can I just mention a little on that first...

After the metals had been awarded and the prizes given, the girl who came in first came up to me and told me that she had only run the course twice, not realizing it was three laps for the 5k. So she gave me back the metal and the gift card she won. Talk about honesty. I was very impressed.

Here are some photos of the event...

The tables were stocked with milk and cookies...

So back to the race. While I was checking people in, a woman gave me her name, and I quickly responded - "Oh, I had two roommates in college with that last name." She didn't really respond to my comment. (side note: they have an uncommon last name, so I thought it a little bizarre she didn't ask who they were.) I give her her Santa costumes and number bibs, and she asks if she can pick up the stuff for the rest of her family. I say yes, and she gives me the first names. My quick response again: "So you are Rochelle and Emily's mom?" She replied she was. I then told her, those are the two roommates I had mentioned. Small world. Let me mention a little more on this...

My last year at the Y, my best friend and I don't really know what else he was at this point, but he left to attend law school out of state. So the 8 months he was gone, I dated someone else in the ward. I don't know if the "relationship" ended because the new guy knew the best friend was coming back for the summer to clerk for a judge in Provo or what, but it just sort of ended. Kind of weird because I didn't think things were bad or anything. But they ended all the same and I guess I was quickly distracted by my best friend back in town. (side note: Rochelle only lived with us the summer semester before I started seeing the old flame, Emily lived with me for a year). Emily moved to another condo in the ward at the start of the summer when my BF came back to clerk. Stuff happened over the summer, end of summer comes... Emily and the old flame have been dating and engaged. Turns out stuff started with them before it had ended with us. Everyone had this sort of BYU experience right? You date someone, but they end up marrying your roommate?

Back to the race. I hadn't seen this couple since their wedding reception. (Of course I went...) So fast forward 10 years to the race. Rochelle came up with her mom and found me and said a quick hello. Actually it started with the comment to her mother, "So who do you expect me to remember?" OK, she wasn't in a chipper mood. We did a really quick catch up and she left. The race happens, I don't see Emily and her hubbie. The race ends so I start cleaning up. I figure they had left. Next thing I knew, the hubbie was standing in front of me. He looked exactly the same - darn it. (Don't you secretly wish old flames would put on a lot of weight, lose their hair in really odd balding patterns, etc? Well, he looked as good as in college - don't worry folks, no coveting of my old roommates hubbie or anything, simply an observation.) So he asked where I was now, what I was doing volunteering (since in our day I was running marathons), then their baby he had with them started to cry, and that was it - he left. I didn't get to ask about them. And Emily never came to find me.

Why is this a post for something that has been on my mind? Is anyone else uncomfortable when an old flame adds you on Facebook? For me, being single - that extends out to old guy friends who are now married and married guys in my ward, when their wives haven't added me. There is this whole world of Facebook that have no desire to be a part of, it is a world where apparently people find old flames from high school and leave their spouses for this friend - all because they found them on Facebook. Well not only because of Facebook. It is like when someone leaves the Church because of something someone said this one time - well, really, there were already issues there. That one comment that one time was just the final straw.

I'll talk more on the issue of being single and people adding you on Facebook later, but back to running into old flames. It has happened a few times for me over the years. You get to be 35 and still single, you are bound to have a handful of old flames like me. And I HATE running into them. I'd like to think that I've at least taken care of myself. I haven't put on tons of weight, and my hairline, though way too full of gray so is regularly colored to maintain the appearance that I still have not gone over to the gray side, it is still in tact - no hair loss here. But then you get those questions about what you are doing now. There are those glances down to my left hand, nope no ring there. The fishing questions, but no straight out - are you married? At least not usually. I think the fishing questions usually lead to the obvious assumption that no, she is not married.

Oh well, I am not going to live in a cave for the rest of my life just so I don't run into people from my past. I was actually even hoping they would both come find me so I could get a picture to post. I wasn't going to get a picture just with him. Though I guess I could have scanned a picture of us together in college to compare with today? Nah, inappropriate.

But I really think I might start making stuff up now. I'd love suggestions. How about I have been divorced 4 times now. I have one child with each husband. Something to totally catch them off guard. What do you think? Anyone else have fun stories about running into old flames to share?