I read his first message over and over.  And over again.   What did he mean by “great memories?”  I tried to remember more about him, but there was nothing.  How could my brain have let go of all that?

I finally clicked on his Classmates.com profile.  There was a photo of a smiling man, sitting at a table with a pizza and a bottle of red wine, about to pick up a slice.  I couldn’t see any sign of the boy I knew, but he was so cute!  It was a great photo – nothing flirty, just friendly.  I stared at it for a long while.  He had a full head of dark hair and a mustache.  I love mustaches.  He was trim, with lovely shoulders.  I’m a sucker for shoulders.  He had on jeans and a classy maroon sweater.  Casual, comfortable, and nice looking.  Inviting…

So I googled him.  Not much there.  Except for a Facebook account that listed the military as his employer.  Was that the one?  I didn’t want to reply on Classmates.com but here was my chance to be in touch without saying anything.  I didn’t want to risk a message if it turned out to be the wrong guy.  I could send him a friend request.  I puzzled over whether to do that… but then I put myself in his shoes.  And realized I did not want to leave him hanging.  He had done everything right.  I could at least reach out.  That way if he turned out to be an unpleasant correspondent, I could block him and be done with it.

I decided to sleep on it.  I went to work the next day and thought about it in between meetings.  When I got home, I looked at everything again – his message, his photo, his blank Facebook page… and made up my mind to get in touch.

So late in the evening of August 19th, I clicked the Friend Request button and went off to bed.

I lay awake wondering if he’d friend me or message me?  What did he want?