I did this meme last year at this time, and I thought I’d do it again with the grand intention of blogging every day for the next year.

1. Last week was “The Most Wonderful time of the Year”, but what are your favorite 2008 memories?

Lots of good pool and beach days, fun nights out with Adam, a great 50th birthday celebration, fabulous family holidays and lots of hugs and kisses from my little guy.

2. What is the best thing you learned in 2008?

That it’s easy to set goals for yourself and stick with them. 

3. On a scale of 1-10, how good was your 2008?

A 9.  I’d give it a 10, but people would start yelling bullshit, so a 9 allows me to throw in the bad with the good.   (This is my answer from last year.  I have the same thoughts again this year.)

4. What is your wish for 2009? What is your wish for someone else for 2009?

To keep doing healthy things for me, to spend as much time with family and friends as possible and to laugh often.

Bonus (as in optional):Do you make New Year’s resolutions? What is/are your’s for 2009?

I’m going to keep walking, continue healthy eating, and make sure I can always laugh about anything.

Ethan got a very special video message from Santa tonight.  Here’s his reaction to it:

You know that’s about as cute as it gets.

I was going through some of the Christmas photos from previous years, and found this one.  I can’t believe that four years has gone by since this photo was taken. Time is flying past us way too quickly.

… protect my privacy.

I had fully intended to go into more detail, with a name and links to a variety of sites, including news stories and book segments, but I decided to keep the name out of it to protect myself.  There is no way in hell I want to be traced back to anything, particularly by this person.  Who knows when a person or a member of their family might google them, right.  So, with those thoughts, I’ll give you the story the best I can.

It turns out that “my first” is a registered sex offender.  And not just any registered sex offender, but a LEVEL 4 SEX OFFENDER.  What does this level mean, you might ask?  “The highest level, Level 4, is considered a sexually violent predator.”  That’s right, it doesn’t get any worse than that.  These are the people who are the ones you read about.  The real psychos who commit a crime, are imprisoned and released, only to repeat this offense.  They often kill the person to prevent them from IDing them and having to return to prison.  They are the types who should never be released.  There is no rehabilitation for this type of criminal.  “The designation requires the highest and most visible means of community notification. Level 3 offenders are considered to be at high risk of reoffending. Often, offenders have a history of repeating sexual offenses, or strong antisocial, violent or predatory personality characteristics, according to state guidelines.”  Nice.

When I discovered this piece of information, I did more research to find out exactly what crime was committed.  He “was convicted of attempted rape on Dec. 2, 1997. The offense involved a 15 year-old girl.”  This guy, who was at one time the love of my life is the worst possible piece of shit on the face of the earth.  How could it be?  How could he do this to my memories?    I want to scream at him.  He has cast this horrible shadow on the memories of everything that was those years.  I can’t even think of him now without seeing his mugshot and knowing what he has done to a young girl.  Someone’s daughter, granddaughter, sister.  I know he was a father even though I haven’t spoken to him in almost 30 years.  I ran into a mutual friend several years ago, who told me he was doing okay and had children, was still living in the state he moved to when I ended it with him.   What happened?  I have asked myself this question so many times over the past several days, and I still have no hint of an idea.

Of course, I continued to google his name after the initial finding, and found that not only was he a convicted sex offender, but he is a recently released sex offender.  Just a few days ago, the newspaper in his area published a story about released sex offenders and where they were living.    

“Only one Level 4 sex offender lives in M… County. That guy, 50, who lives on M… County Road 8094 in Y-ville, was assessed as a Level 4 sex offender this month, according to M… County Sheriff’s office information.

On Thursday, M… County authorities were notifying neighbors of  that guy’s status, Vickers said.”

I am glad they are contacting the neighbors.  I am furious that he has already been released.  Furious that he only served half his sentence, particularly considering the Level 4 status.  I am sad for his parents, his brothers and sister, his children.  I cannot imagine how this must be effecting them. 

So, that is my story.  All I can say, is that you may not want to look into people from your past.  It might just ruin some very good memories.

This is “my first.”  You know, that one guy that had the power to convince you to give it up, even when you’d been the only girl who hung onto it all through high school.  He comes along your senior year, from another school, with a bad boy reputation, and with just enough influence to coerce you into believing it was true love.  We were together for a little over two years, and during those two years I thought he was the love of my life.

The day after my 20th birthday I went to his house to break up with him, and the next day he called me from the airport to give me one more chance to change my mind, before he headed to Arkansas where his family had relocated about six months prior.  He didn’t change my mind, and I never saw him again.

Of course, I sometimes wondered what happened to him, but it wasn’t that often and usually only when I got together with friends from the old days and we started reminiscing about the days of our carefree youth.  Little did I know that my carefree youth would take on such a different feeling 30 years later.

More to come…

If you’re like me, and like most people,  you sometimes look back to your past and wonder “whatever happened to” in regards to that first love of your life.   Well, I decided to take full advantage of the internet and find out what I could about “my first.”  Of course, I was hoping he was well, hoping he was still alive, hoping he had kids and was living a happy life.

Boy, was I in for the surprise of my life!  More to come…