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>
zlib_text: 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 I’m 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 ago—you and Johnny inseparable, me tagging
  along whenever you’d 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, can’t it? In the news story, Johnn