Friend #45

Friend #45 came by accident.
I had a friend request on Facebook from a man named Howard. I've only known one Howard in my life, and that was when I was 18. I smile and laugh a bit when I think of that Howard. He and I had the kind of friendship one only has in their late teens/early-20s. I dated his best friend but had a crush on Howard, and Howard, in turn, accompanied us on double dates with my best friend while having a crush on me unknowingly. Schenangians ensued with my friend, but we'll protect her dignity on this blog.
You may see why I was almost giddy when I saw the friend request from "Howard" who had no pictures of his self on his page, just two cute little kids . But this wasn't THE Howard. My schoolgirl giddiness at the possibility of talking to a former crush was crushed. The initial friend request had a message: "Hi, remember me?" I accepted his request and replied, "Of course I do! How ARE you?!?" Wrong Howard told me that he is living in Chicago with a wife and two kids. I told him my abbreviated current life story. I asked him what he does for a living, and he told me that he's a personal trainer and in my mind, I thought "Very appropriate!" I asked about his mother, "She's good" he replied. He asked about mine, "She's great. She moved to Arizona when I had my second son."
I guess I never realized that I had not once mentioned Minnesota, the friend I dated, or anything identifying how we used to know each other. We only spoke of the present.
Wrong Howard asked, "Do you ever go to the USC reunions?" Wait........what??? I heard that record scratch sound in my head.
"Ummm, I know you from Minnesota, remember? I never went to USC." His reply? "Oh, oops, wrong connection, I guess. Sorry. Have a blessed life."
And that was it. The lesson I learned: Don't befriend people on Facebook if they don't have identifying pictures, and make sure you really know them before wasting a half hour of your life chatting.