title: Dear Old Love: Anonymous Notes to Former Crushes, Sweethearts, Husbands, Wives, &  Ones That Got Away
author:  Andy Selsberg 
description: <DIV>Andy Selsberg has written for <I>The Onion</I>, <I>GQ</I>, <I>Oxford American</I>, Salon.com, and other publications. He is also a adjunct lecturer of English at John Jay College, CUNY, and a former stand-up comedian. He lives in New York City and his website is www.dearoldlove.com.<br></DIV>
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  N.
  
  1\. The Letter
  
  May 28, 2008
  
  Dear Charlie,
  
  It seems both strange and perfectly natural to call you that, although when I
  last saw you I was nearly half the age I am now. I was sixteen and had a
  terrible crush on you. (Did you know? Of course you did.) Now Im a happily
  married woman with a little boy, and I see you all the time on CNN, talking
  about Things Medical. You are as handsome now (well, almost!) as you were
  back in the day, when the three of us used to go fishing and to movies at
  The Railroad in Freeport.
  
  Those summers seem like a long time agoyou and Johnny inseparable, me tagging
  along whenever youd let me. Which was probably more often than I deserved!
  Yet your note of condolence brought it all back to me, and how I cried. Not
  just for Johnny, but for all three of us. And, I suppose, for how simple and
  uncomplicated life seemed. How golden we were!
  
  You saw his obituary, of course. Accidental death can cover such a multitude
  of sins, cant it?