Recently, we shared some stories from older adults who opened up about "the one who got away." In the comments, members of the BuzzFeed Community shared their stories of lost love, too. Some of these stories are heartbreakingly tragic, some worked out for the best, and some hold valuable lessons in love.
Here's what they had to say: 2. "She wasn’t the one that got away, but rather, she dumped me after we had been an exclusive couple for about 15 months. I was 18 (freshman in college), and she was 16 (high school senior) when we first started dating.
We fell madly in love with each other, and it felt like my whole world revolved around her. She was my first serious girlfriend and my first true love. But the following year, when she moved away to start her freshman year at college, she came home at Thanksgiving and ended our relationship.
" "She had gone on a couple of dates with a guy she met in her dorm, and she wanted to be free to date other guys and experience all that college life had to offer. The breakup devastated me. I thought for sure we would get married one day and live happily ever after.
I have been happily married for 40 years, but I still think about this old girlfriend on a regular basis. She actually did both of us a favor by ending our relationship because, in looking back on it, we were both too young and inexperienced to be seriously considering marriage. After I got over our breakup, I had four or five somewhat serious relationships with other women.
My wife and I started dating a year after we first met when I was 26, and I knew pretty soon after we began an exclusive relationship that she was the woman I was going to marry. I sometimes wonder how I would respond if my old girlfriend got in touch with me. I would be pleased to hear from her (it’s been almost 50 years since we had any contact) but I think that sometimes it is best to leave certain relationships in the past.
But what I sometimes think about is if we were both widowed, could we reconnect as a romantic couple? We had a very loving relationship when we dated as teenagers, and I can’t recall ever having an argument. If she hadn’t initiated the breakup, I wouldn’t have ruled out us getting married, although, like I said earlier, it was probably best that we didn’t. Bottom line is that I hope she is happy and doing well.
" — sidneykaler 3. "Mine that got away was my ex-husband. We both had our share of mental health problems, and he had an alcohol problem.
We just couldn’t do it anymore, even though he really was my soulmate. After we both got help we have been able to be in contact and be the best friends we always were together. I still miss him sometimes, but I know if I needed him or he needed me, we would be on a plane in an instant.
I’m excited to introduce him to my husband this summer and meet his girlfriend." — greenbutterfly89 5. "We’d dated for two years in high school, and after graduation, he met someone else.
Told me about it one night, abruptly, no warning, just said that was it, that it was over. I’d thought things were fine. Devastated.
He married her, bought a place, had three kids, had a good job, and so did she, and things were clicking for them. I moved with my family from our tiny village to one of the largest metro areas in the nation, and my world opened up." "Fell in love with the man of my dreams (my hero!), married, and life took off.
Came a time we struggled, though, and took a break. Somehow old boyfriend looked me up; he was having his own crisis. Spoke on the phone several times and he wrote; when he started pushing too far, I drew a line.
Went back to our spouses, me happily, he comfortably. He sends greetings on the major days; sometimes crosses the line saying he could never forgive himself for letting me go 50 years ago. Grateful he did.
Always friends; but it was meant to be this way." — radskull1386 6. "I have one of these.
I totally messed up, all my fault, let the guy get away. Twenty years later, I think of him occasionally, but what's really awful are the dreams I have where we're still together or where he shows up at my house to tell me he's still in love with me, too. I've woken up a lot of times and cried as a result of the bittersweetness of those dreams.
" — applescruff1983 8. "I spent years thinking about the one who got away. All the time.
What I could have done and if I could ever go back to him. Then I actually met 'the one.' Now I know what it’s like to really be loved and in love.
I don’t even think about my ex anymore." — theredgingersnap 9. "He was my first love and was on the Harvard crew team.
He was training for the Henley Regatta and had a magic sweater knitted for me with a white H on a burgundy background. I said he should keep it because I couldn’t have a relationship with someone who had practice all the time. Many years later, he sent me FB photos of his island home and his beautiful wife.
I tried to look him up and read his obituary instead. He died on November 28, 2023. I called him Pucknik.
" — cornytortoise49 11. "It’s been ten years since 'the one that got away' for me. He’s the guy that I moved halfway across the country for, and I truly believe that he was a soulmate.
I just wish I could go back in time with the knowledge and experience that 40-year-old I has to help 29-year-old me not to mess everything up. I had untreated depression and anxiety at the time, and if those things had been under control, I know things would be a lot different now. At this point, we’re now both remarried to other people; I wish we could at least still be friends but even that feels like a big wish.
I hope he hasn’t forgotten about me, and I hope he knows how important he has been in my life." — peppermintraymaker 12. "I thought there was something better out there.
I left him high and dry. I thought of him for years, and when I finally had the courage to look him up, I found out he had tragically died. I think about him often and look back and count myself lucky to have been so truly loved at such a very young age.
He is so very missed. I wish I could’ve told him how much I truly loved him for so many years." — gsferalaunt 14.
"I recently messaged someone I thought was my ex after a decade of not speaking, and they confirmed that I was a great 'friend,' meaning they never saw me as more than that. So the whole time in the past, I thought we were getting together and breaking up, and getting together again was really her way of saying she didn't want it. So getting that confirmation 10 years later just solidified that you don't have to fight/argue/convince someone to like/be with/love you.
Someone who does want you will show it. I'm 33 and just learning that lesson and also learning that I actually haven't been liked/loved at all before." — christenisspeaking 15.
"My first love was the cousin of my best friend. I was head over heels in love with him, and he was my first. I moved away to go to school, but we saw each other a couple of times when I visited home.
It still had the same fireworks. He got me. I got him enough.
He was not going to be my forever, especially with being a teenager. However, my life took me into a completely different part of the country, career path and boyfriends. Bizarrely enough, I have been happily married for decades to a man with the same first name, the same sense of humor, and the same overall vibe.
My best friend calls him my 'John' 2.0." — ellie4me 17.
"I still have feelings for her. We had been inseparably close almost since birth. There were just four days between us and only two doors apart on the same block.
Our parents and grandparents parents were all friends and pretty much lived at each other's houses since our parents worked alternate shifts most of the time. Both our parents divorced while we were in the second grade and married new people a year later, but we were still close." "She was killed when a drunk driver hit the car she was in two months before we turned 14.
Her family refused to let me attend the funeral because they were on the way home from the doctor, who said she was pregnant They blamed me for her death. But none blamed me more than I did. She would not have been in that car if not for me.
Had she lived, we would both be 50 this fall with 35-year-old twins who might have kids." — bradhart 18. "I was a junior, and he was a senior in high school.
We were constantly on the phone and saw each other as much as our parents would let us that year. His family moved away after he graduated, and we broke up. We ran into each other a couple of times after that, but we never got back together.
We lost touch, and I got married. I thought about how that 17-year-old boy loved me nearly daily during my 20-year marriage. I’m in a wonderfully fulfilling relationship now and realized about six months in that I had completely stopped thinking about my old high school flame.
" — icysmoothie74 20. "We were never together, but I had the biggest crush on a coworker (bad, I know). We became super close throughout the years to the point where people thought we had something going on.
On my last day of work, I wanted to confess my feelings for her since I wasn’t gonna work with her anymore." "However, shit the fan between us before I could tell her anything. We don’t talk to each other anymore, but we’re on neutral terms.
I’m in an amazing relationship today, but I sometimes think about her and hope she’s doing well. We had a lot of great memories together, but that’s all it’ll ever be. I think back and feel like she wasn’t meant to know how I felt about her.
I don’t think it was in the cards for her to know, and I’m at peace with that." — copperzebra762 21. And finally, "We dated in our early 20s, and then I moved out of town, and the long-distance relationship was too hard for us to overcome.
Both of us are now widowed, and he reached out to me through Facebook. 48 years later and in our 70s, we are blissfully engaged, and every day is better than the one before. We are euphoric and still in shock that we found one another again, and it is working out so beautifully.
" — freshhero46 Do you ever think about "the one who got away"? Tell us your story in the comments!.
