Do I really want to do this?

It's not like I don't have a lot on my plate already...what with fighting with AT&T, working out 5+ days a week (yay me!), eating almost every meal at home (read: cooking a LOT), preparing to go to Arizona for a week, and, oh yes, trying to start my own business.
Guess somewhere in my psyche, there was a millimeter of space that was itching for some activity. What kind of monkey wrench can I throw in here? I know! I'll look up an old boyfriend! That usually wreaks all kinds of havoc!
(I'm going to refer to him as "The Brown," which is what he nicknamed his gigantic Oldsmobile back in the day.)
Unlike most women who do crazy shit like this, The Brown wasn't an a-hole whom I'm glad to be rid of. Far from it! It was one of those situations where we were right for each other but the timing was wrong. Him: a soon-to-graduate college senior. Me: a freshman.
'nuff said.
We had some tiny, maybe inconsequential, but odd things in common: He was from a large Catholic family (just like me). He was the last boy and had one younger sister. I am the last girl and the next older is a brother (with the same first name as The Brown). We both suffered through winter birthdays as ours were almost exactly one month apart.
I'd guess you could use a Hollywood phrase and call him 'my one great love.'
Can you have a great love at 17? I don't know. Ask Romeo and Juliet.
But I digress...
Do you ever have those low periods in your life when you think back to better times? Times when you'd give anything to be back in those more innocent days? It's during those times that I remember this guy and how sweet he was to me.
No, I never pictured us married with kids or anything like that. I was very young at the time and had had very little dating experience, so this kind, gentle, caring guy was perfect for me. Maybe we would've crashed and burned if we stayed together. Who knows?
Still.
I'll admit that over the years, I've checked the school's alumni newsletter for his name (nope) or, more recently, even thrown a dart at Facebook. His (very common) name came up more than 500 times!
So the other night, while trying to squeeze a discount for a rental car from my university's alumni website, I got the crazy urge to look him up in the online alumni directory. Okay, it's been more than 20 years since we saw each other and I haven't even thought of him in at least a few years.
I located a listing for a guy with the same name, but he lives in California. Hmmn... I do remember The Brown getting a job in California not long after college.
What the hell! So I send an email with some pertinent facts about The Brown, just to see if this is indeed the same guy.
It's HIM!
I don't use Gmail, AOL, Yahoo or any of a hundred other providers for my personal email, I use Earthlink. God only knows how they stay in business because I don't know too many other people that use Earthlink.
Except The Brown.

AT&T battle, Round 2

AT&T billing time frame: January 11 to February 10. AT&T's total number of local calls: 29.

After last month's billing fiasco, I wasn't taking any chances. Beginning January 25 (the day an AT&T technician arrived at my high-rise building, spoke to me and then left without doing anything), I have started to list the calls made from my phone including the time, date, call recipient and length of call.

My time frame: January 25 to February 10. Total number of local calls: 5.

Hmmn? So, does anyone REALLY think I made 24 calls in 14 days considering my lack of home phone activity?

Yeah, me neither.

So I emailed AT&T to get another detailed call list. A very nice representative named Mamie responded within 24 hours and said she'd be happy to mail out a list of my calls...for a $3 charge.
Um, no, I don't think so. I very nicely explained the January billing issue and Mamie agreed to withdraw the extra charge.

Nice girl, that Mamie.

So, now I wait.