I Discovered a 1991 Letter from My First Love in the Attic — What Happened After I Looked Her Up Online Was Unbelievable

At first, I thought I’d misplaced it years ago. Then I noticed it had been opened and resealed. My heart sank as the realization settled in. Heather must have found it.

When or why, I’ll never know. Perhaps she thought she was protecting our marriage. Perhaps she didn’t know how to explain it. The truth didn’t matter anymore.

What mattered was what the letter said.

Sue explained that she had only just discovered my last letter, the one I had sent pleading for her to wait. Her parents had hidden it, telling her I had moved on and wanted her to do the same.

They had even pushed her toward a man named Thomas—stable, reliable, approved. She did not claim to love him, only that she was hurt, confused, and believed I had chosen another life.

One line stopped me cold: “If you don’t answer this, I’ll assume you chose the life you wanted—and I’ll stop waiting.”

Her return address was written at the bottom. My chest ached. For decades, the silence between us had been filled with assumptions, misunderstandings, and lost opportunities.