Sunday, February 19, 2006

A Mystery Solved

When I first started dating Mr. Zoom, there was this cloud. This cloud was an ex girlfriend of his - from dang, I don't know how many years before I showed up. For those of you who know Mr. Zoom well, this is the one with the blonde hair. This girl was his learning relationship.

I say cloud, because whenever her name came up - people in the room would shiver. Or say "uuuh, no, no no no, let's not ever speak that name again." Even in e-mail, the mention of her name would bring a "reply to all" that read "STOP WITH THAT, WE DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT."

I had one of those myself. It was my first serious, long term relationship and I retardedly thought I'd marry the guy. I was a 19 year-old idealist in every possible way. When the guy started to distance himself and finally broke up with me, I was absolutely devastated.

But at the same time, it was the turning point in my life where I decided to go out and see what the world was all about. And I also learned I could do it alone, with friends or possibly bump into a future boyfriend or two. When I look back on it, it actually isn't a negative memory for me. I feel it's one of those moments that I can point to, one that led me to the great life I have now.

And the thing is, none of the people associated with Mr. Zoom knew me back then. The people he has around him have pretty much been there since elementary school. Because I am from a military family, I moved every 3 years. I atttended multiple elementary, jr. high and high schools.

I always wondered why she was such a pariah.

As Mr. Zoom and I got to know each other, we discussed our past relationships. I learned about the cloud. I'm not going to detail anything about their relationship because, it's not my place. But the more he talked about her, the more I stated to suspect there was a really big chance that I had actually gone to high school with her.

Which brings us to this Sunday afternoon. Mr. Zoom was working out in the garage. I took this opportunity to drag out my high school yearbooks. I brought them inside.

I only have three of them. My freshman year was spent at a high school in the middle of nowhere. That yearbook is lost. My sophmore, junior and senior years were at the same school.

I started with 1985, and looked for Ms. Cloud's name in the index. Nothing.
1986 - nothing.
1987 - DING!

She was a junior when I was a senior! Even seeing her picture in the yearbook, she didn't look familiar in any way. The high school was pretty big. And I wasn't exactly someone who mingled well.

Back then, we actually had a section on campus that was chain linked off. It was the smoking section. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? We actually had a school sanctioned place to smoke. That's where I spent every lunch and break. The skinheads, deathrockers/punkers and metal heads were all there too. There was even a sub-section of popular kids who dared smoke cigarettes. I hung out with the metal heads, skin heads, and deathrock/punkers.

I had a bleached white spikey haircut that I made into a mohawk - to the distress of my parents. I wore black and my Doc Martens every day. I had black finger nails. I wasn't allowed piercings or "anyting permanent" - so that was about as far as I went. Despite my looks, I was actually afraid of my parents and getting in trouble. I was also able to carry a decent gpa - except for math classes.

I took the yearbook out to Mr. Zoom and confirmed that yes, his ex and I did go to high school together. But that I don't remember her at all. And I doubt if she remembers me, either.

Mr. Zoom said "Aieeee, this actually gives me a very weird Lost vibe."

Freaking show has invaded every possible pore of my life.

6 comments:

Ka said...

Un-friggen believable!

I'm kind of surprised we didn't figure that out sooner. And you're right... that would have made a perfect subplot in Lost... if either you or Mr. Zoom were in Lost.

Aisha T. said...

WOW! What are the odds? Exes....the shadow that looms over. I've dealt with my first boyfriend having THAT ex--the one he found in bed with someone else. Then became that ex for his last girlfriend (she was insecure about him having an ex so he wasn't even allowed to mention my name)and now my guy and I have the baggage of exes for each other. Except, his ex he sees about three times a week and is in constant contact with because they have a child together. Grrr....*grin*

AndyT13 said...

Um. Is it my imagination or are you totally under reacting to what a HUGE coincidence that is? LOST is a TV show, hunh? Hmm. I wonder sometimes what that might be like. Then I remember I don't want to know. Sometimes being a freak has its up side. All my exes live in Texas. OK, not really. I fear them all. Apparently my level of sanity attracted like types; thus I am often stalked by many crazy people. *sigh*
Drop by for "interesting word of the day" day.

ZooooM said...

Exes. I generally don't have an issue with them at all. Which is why I couldn't understand why this girl was such a "we shall not speak it's name".

Aisha, I've never dated someone who had a kid with someone else. That would probably be hard.

Ka, I thought we went to the same school because of where Mr. Zoom said her parents lived. It was so close to my high school, it made sense. I guess she went to another hs for her freshman/soph years - which is why she's only in one of my yearbooks.

Theresa said...

I want pics of the bleached, spikey, mohawk Zooom!

ZooooM said...

Hi T. I'll try and dig a few of those out. They are in the big box of pictures in the garage. The yearbooks were in the box on the top. If I find some, I'll put them up here.